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W.  W.  HANDLIN, 

4TTf)RJ?EY  AT   L.4W. 
1519  GLIO  a'l'P^-i 

NEW 


3l?i5  boo\(  i5  respectfully 
Dedicated  to  myself. 


WILLIAM 


BY    W.   W.    HANDT^TX, 


AUTHOR     OF 
"AM  KKIOA  X      I'OMTICH." 


NEW   ©RLEaiVSs 

Paul  J.  Sendker  Printing  Co.,  Ltd., 

335  Carondelet  Street, 

1901. 


COPYRIGHTED   AUGUST   21,    1901, 
BY  THE   AUTHOR. 


"Franciscus    de    verulamio   sic   cogitavitS 


NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Oct.  24,  1898. 
MRS.  E.  A.  PAGE, 

Dear  Madam : — I  send  you  a  sketch  of 
New  Orleans,  showing  where  my  51  lots 
lie.  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  they 
will  be  worth  double  what  I  ask  in  a  short 
time.  This  city  is  on  the  up  grade.  We 
had  a  bad  yellow  fever  scare  last  year. 
Then  the  war  came.  This  year  the  scare  was 
not  so  bad,  and  the  fever  was  no  worse  than 
measles.  But  New  Orleans  is  destined  to 
be  a  great  city.  It  will  get  the  trade  of  our 
new  Spanish  possessions,  Cuba  and  Porto 
Rico.  In  this  letter  I  will  open  my  heart: 
You  have  no  idea  how  I  have  suffered,  and 
still  suffer,  for  want  of  a  little  money  to  pay 
even  bread  bills.  It  seems  that  the  Cleve- 
land administration  made  times  very  hard 

here    and  money    very    scarce.     We  have 
\  f;  !  9  (TO 


—  6  — 

property  enough,  but  you  cannot  send  your 
house  to  market. 

The  high  tariff  of  McKinley  is  making 
things  lively  with  you,  but  with  us,  day- 
light is  only  just  beginning.  In  1892,  un- 
der McKinley 's  first  high  tariff,  I  made 
more  money  in  one  year  than  I  had  made 
in  ten  years  before,  which  enabled  me  to 
take  a  trip  through  all  Europe  in  1893. 
As  a  client  of  mine  in  the  estate  of  your 
brother,  Captain  David  Remberger,  you 
might  recommend  me  as  a  lawyer  to  Rob- 
ert Lincoln.  That  is  all;  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  state  the  reason  now. 

With  all  my  troubles,  I  thank  God  that 
He  has  raised  me  a  good  friend  and  well 
\visher  in  you.  My  own  early  life  in  Ken- 
tucky was  not  unlike  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
immortal  father.  My  father  was  the  owner 
of  six  hundred  acres  of  land,  on  which  there 
was  a  pretty  large  farm.  Of  course,  I  did 
all  sorts  of  work,  and  got  my  education  the 
best  I  could,  working  to  pay  my  way  in  col- 


—  7  — 

lege  a  while,  as  my  father  had  five  other 
children.  They  are  all  dead  now,  but  the 
widow  Margaret  Worten  and  myself.  She- is 
very  comfortable  on  a  farm  in  Livingston 
county,  Kentucky.  This  train  of  thought 
makes  me  remember  something  of  my  first 
cogitations  about  God  and  justice.  When 
I  was  just  big  enough  to  sit  on  a  horse,  my 
father,  who  was  a  good  and  honest  man, 
sent  me  with  a  bag  of  corn  to  Jesse  Martin's 
water-mill,  about  six  miles  away.  When  I 
got  to  the  farm  of  one  Sullivan,  I  asked  him 
and  another  man  who  were  working  near 
the  road,  to  tell  me  the  way.  The  farmer, 
seeing  me  so  small,  took  great  pains  to 
kindly  tell  me  how  to  go,  which  made  me 
feel  thankful  in  my  heart.  The  dog,  Guess, 
followed  me,  and  soon  after  I  left  Sullivan, 
he  took  after  a  gang  of  hogs  in  the  woods, 
but  I  called  him  off.  When  I  got  a  good 
distance  further  on,  the  dog  took  after  an- 
other gang  of  hogs,  and  I  let  him  go.  My 
reasoning  faculties  began  to  work,  and  I 


—  8  — 

felt  very  much  alone  and  near  to  my  Ma- 
ker. When  I  got  home,  I  told  my  father 
that  I  would  not  let  Guess  run  the  first 
hogs,  because  I  thought  they  belonged  to 
the  good  man  who  told  me  the  way,  but  I 
let  him  run  the  others  because  they  were  so 
far  away  that  I  thought  they  belonged  to 
some  one  else.  My  father  laughed  a  good 
deal. 

When  I  look  around  and  look  back  on 
rather  a  long  life  and  see  how  things  have 
come  to  pass  in  this  world ,  and  how  little  I 
understand  and  have  understood  of  it  all,  I 
am  filled  with  unspeakable  wonder.  When 
studying  law,  an  old  doctor  (Gilliam)  said 
to  me:  "  William,  always  stand  on  princi- 
ple, not  policy;"  and  Henry  Clay  said  he 
would  rather  be  "right  than  President." 

This  machine,  run  by  air  in  the  place  of 
steam,  would  stop,  and  all  life  on  the  globe 
would    end,  were  it  not  for    the  air.      How. 
wonderful    and  incomprehensible    creation 
is!     May  it  not   be?      Quien   sabe?     That, 


as  some  philosophers  held,  the  earth  is  one 
whole,  living  being,  no  part  of  which  is  lost 
forever,  neither  spirit  nor  body?  Where 
am  I  at?  When  a  boy  in  Marion,  Ken- 
tucky, I  commenced  speaking  German  with 
some  Jewish  merchants.  Afterwards,  with 
Ollendorff  and  a  German  dictionary,  I 
translated  many  German  stories,  and  some- 
thing of  Goethe  and  Schiller,  finding  the 
comedies  much  easier  than  the  tragedies. 
But  there  is  always  something  to  learn  in 
German, — it  is  very  hard;  whereas  in  Span- 
ish and  French  there  seems  to  be  a  limit 
which  can  be  mastered.  A  pilot  in  the  har- 
bor of  Bremer  Haven  remarked  to  me: 
"Uebung  macht  den  Meister. "  I  translated 
the  whole  of  Schiller's  "Don  Carlos,"  a  chef 
cPoeuvre,  where  the  hero  fell  in  love  with  his 
step-mother,  a  very  rare  thing.  When 
sixty-three,  I  thought  I  would  not  bother 
with  any  new  languages,  having  gotten 
along  well  in  Germany  and  France,  but 
going  out  of  St.  Peter's  one  morning,  I 


—  10  — 

stopped  to  get  some  niilk  in  a  restaurant, 
and  could  not  make  myself  understood. 
They  brought  me  eggs-.  I  should  have 
said  latte  (pronounced  latty.)  This  caused 
me  to  commence,  and  after  I  got  home  I 
read  all  of  the  plays  of  Mestastacio, — an 
Italian  Shakespeare, — in  five  or  six  vol- 
umes, at  the  Tulane  library.  The  way  to 
learn  a  language  is  to  be  where  it  is  spoken 
and  to  read  novels  with  dialogues  and  con- 
versations. But  there  is  not  much  profit  in 
being  a  linguist.  It  is  a  sort  of  infatua- 
tion, a  curiosity,  rather  an  inferior  grade 
of  learning,  not  comparable  to  philosophy, 
history,  chemistry,  law  or  medicine.  At 
the  same  time  it  is  a  pleasure  and  very  use- 
ful to  a  gentleman  of  fortune  and  leisure, 
who  can  afford  to  travel.  That  is  the  thing. 
I  am  thankful  indeed  for  the  competency  I 
have,  but  if  the  Goddess,  Fortune,  had  giv- 
en me  enough  to  spend  the  summers  in  oth- 
er parts,  away  from  the  mosquitos  in  New 
Orleans,  I  should  feel  better  satisfied.  That 


—  11  — 

is  about  as  far  as  I  envy  the  millionaires; 
but  many  of  them,  poor  creatures,  are  too 
much  absorbed  in  the  care  of  money  to 
know  the  good  of  it. 

My  course  at  Cumberland  College  (long 
since  gone  out  of  commission)  at  Prince- 
ton, Kentucky,  was  limited  to  one  year.  I 
studied  geometry,  trigonometry,  and  sur- 
veying in  Davies'  Legendre;  was  first  in 
my  class,  and  was  called  upon  in  the  exam- 
ination to  demonstrate  the  Pons  Assinorum* 
Professor  Freeman,  in  starting  us  in  Ge- 
ometry, said  it  was  the  best  course  of  logic. 
Being  a  big  young  man,  with  a  previous 
start,  I  was  able  to  keep  up  with  two  Latin 
classes — Ovid  and  Virgil.  When  over  for- 
ty years  of  age,  I  found  time  to  translate 
all  of  that  remarkable  work,  Caesar's  Com- 
mentaries, with  the  Belli  Civili  Romano- 
rum\  and  when  in  the  practice  of  law  in 
New  Orleans,  my  friend,  E.  K.  Washing- 
ton, the  author  of  travels,  learned  me  to 
read  Greek. 


—  12  — 

I  now  speak,  read  and  write,  more  or  less 
correctly,  five  living  languages.  While 
still  young,  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  when 
Gadsden  was  minister,  I  graduated  in  the 
Castillian  Grammar,  at  the  head  of  the 
class,  and  was  called  updn  to  parse  at  the 
exhibition.  They  gave  mexthe  large  dic- 
tionary of  the  Spanish  Academy,  which 
was  afterwards  lost  among  the  filibusters  in 
Nicaragua.  Having  studied  law  in  Span- 
ish for  some  time,  I  turned  my  attention  to 
Spanish  literature,  and  read  many  of  the 
principal  works  of  Cervantes  and  Lesage, 
which  I  had  read  before  in  English.  I  had 
a  beautiful  illustrated  edition  of  Gil  Bias, 
in  7  volumes,  printed  in  Madrid  over  100 
years  ago,  which  I  have  since  given 
to  a  niece  who  studied  Spanish.  At  a  bull 
fight,  Zorrillo,  the  poet,  was  pointed  out  to 
me.  The  newspapers  printed  an  interview 
in  which  he  said:  u Por  donde  quiere  que 
yo  vaya,  canto"  (I  sing  wherever  I  g(3.) 
Years  afterwards  I  fell  upon  a  very  long 


—  13  — 

epic  poem  of  his,  in  which  an  old  physician 
was  the  hero.  He  made  him  out  a  very 
good  and  very  learned  man.  The  doctor 
treated  rich  and  poor  alike,  and  took  what- 
ever they  gave  him,  and  if  he  fonnd  no 
towel  he  wiped  his  face  on  the  sheet. 

While  in  Mexico  I  boarded  in  a  French 
hotel,  and  we  generally  stayed  at  dinner  an 
hour,  where  I  heard  nothing  but  French; 
so  getting  an  Ollendorff  method,  I  was 
soon  able  to  commence  reading  Les  trots 
mousquetaires,  vingt  apres,  etc.,  which  I 
hired  from  a  library.  A  pretty  play  of 
Dumas  is  La  vielle  tour  de  Nesle.  After- 
wards, I  went  through  the  whole  range  of 
French  literature — Eugene  Sue,  Victor  Hu- 
go, Volney,  Voltaire,  Corneille,  Thiers 
and  others,  greatly  to  my  gratification '. 
The  Henriade  of  Voltaire  is  a  most  charm- 
ing work,  but  I  think  I  enjoyed  most  Le 
Consulat  et  L? '  Impire,  of  Thiers.  I  had 
read  his  French  Revolution  in  English. 
My  old  friend,  Judge  Duvigneaud,  lent  me 


—  14  — 

a  fine  edition  in  nineteen  volumes  of  the 
easiest  print,  and  I  finished  them.  He 
said  it  was  a  romance.  But  in  this  respect 
my  mother-in-law  did  not  agree  with  the 
judge.  She  used  to  say,  whenever  Napo- 
leon came  upon  the  tapis,  u Ah,  le  monstre, 
le gredin,  le  bucher!"  And  I  must  say, 
aside  from  admiration  of  the  genius  of  the 
warrior,  that  I  think  she  was  about  right. 
After  Attila,  perhaps  the  human  race  has 
not  had  a  greater  scourge  than  Napoleon. 
Thiers  reported  in  his  history  of  Le  Consu- 
lat  et  L?  Impire,  that  when  Napoleon  was 
at  the  zenith  of  his  power,  the  prevailing 
thought  was  glory,  but  when  fortune  left 
him,  Tallyrand  turned  to  the  rising  sun  of 
the  Bourbons  and  labored  assiduously  to 
inform  the  people  that  they  had  had  enough 
of  glory  and  that  it  was  time  to  turn  their 
attention  to  Legitimite. 

The  most  striking  thing- about  Attila  was 
the  burning  of  all  his  baggage  in  one  great 
heap  after  his  defeat  in  France.  It  makes 


—  15  — 

me  think  that  when  we  are  ready  to  make 
our  final  retreat  into  that  great  beyond, 
that  we  shall  put  our  little  mundane  things 
into  a  similar  heap  and  set  them  on  fire. 
In  this  respect  the  civilization  of  Rome  was 
superior  to  our  own.  I  am  an  advocate  of 
purification,  cremation.  How  like  a  ma- 
chine, a  watch  or  a  clock,  is  the  body  of 
man!  Man's  life,  by  "the  pencil  of  the 
Holy  Ghost, "  is  wound  up  more  or  less  to 
the  period  of  seventy  years.  The  heart 
beats  all  that  time,  and  when  it  ceases  the 
man  stops.  But  in  this  one  thing  nature 
is  uniform.  Every  created  thing  needs 
and  has  a  heart  to  beat  the  diapasson  of 
life,  and  man  cannot  claim  in  this  exclu- 
siveness,  though  he  may  claim  for  himself 
a  usole  exclusive  heaven." 

Sallust  said  two  thousand  years  ago: 
"Every  man  who  wishes  to  distinguish 
himself  from  the  other  animals  ought  to  la- 
bor not  to  pass  his  life  in  obscurity,  and, 
as  life  is  so  short,  he  ought  to  strive  to 


—  16  — 

leave  a  long  remembrance. n  fOjala!  that 
this  poor  letter  of  mine  might  live  two 
thousand  years. 

In  concluding  this  review,  my  dear 
madam,  I  must  confess  to  you  that  my  love 
of  books,  coupled  with  the  prejudice  of 
others  against  them,  has  caused  me  many 
a  good  scolding.  The  only  excuse  I  can 
offer  for  the  garrulity  of  an  old  man  is 
what  the  Master  said  about  hiding  a  light 
under  a  bushel;  and  so,  madam,  I  must 
restrain  myself  from  further  intellectual 
pyrotechnics. 

Farewell. 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


—  17  — 

BERLIN,  GERMANY,  Aug.  14,  1893. 
William ,  My  Son  : 

We  sailed  on  the  Akaba,  at  12:30  p.  m., 
July  1 9th,  1893;  length  356  feet,  draft  24 
feet,  cargo  3000  tons,  dead  weight  5000 
tons.  It  took  $3,000  to  load  her;  when  the 
tug  pulled  her  bow  off,  she  looked  grand  and 
appeared  to  reach  half  across  the  river.  We 
passed  the  sugar  plantations  of  Gov.  War- 
moth  and  Bradish  Johnson  and  the  rice 
and  orange  -  place  of  Pat  Lyons  on 
the  right,  and  Point  a  la  Hache,  the  county 
seat  of  Plaquemines  Parish,  on  the  left.  It 
was  too  late  to  get  out  and  we  anchored  at 
the  head  of  the  Passes.  Next  morning  we 
went  out  South  Pass.  It  is  very  narrow  and 
crooked.  On  the  third  day  we  passed  Key 
West,  500  miles  out.  In  the  night  we  pass- 
ed Aligator  Reef,  which  has  a  funny  light- 
house— three  lights,  one  red  and  two  white, 
which  bob  up  and  down  alternately  all  night. 
Our  voyage  was  very  pleasant;  the  weather 


—  18  — 

was  fine;  we  passed  several  whales  and  lots 
of  flying  fish.  But  it  was  too  long  to  write 
fully  about.  I  made  notes,  however.  Going 
East  we  gained  twenty  minutes  time  every 
day  and  had  to  advance  the  clock.  The 
chronometer  on  the  ship  was  London  time, 
six  hours  earlier  than  New  Orleans.  One 
hour  from  Greenwich,  which  is  near  London, 
going  West,  makes  800  or  900  miles,  and 
that  is  the  way  they  know  the  longitude  or 
distance  West  from  Greenwich. 

It  is  4687  miles  from  New  Orleans  to 
London,  and  5300  miles  to  Bremen.  The 
coal  got  dusty  three  days,  and  we  only  went 
150  miles  a  day,  but  we  averaged  200  miles, 
and  a  few  days,  at  first,  with  the  gulf  stream, 
we  made  about  300  miles  in  24  hours.  I  ex- 
pect to  be  back  about  the  first  of  October. 
The  variations  of  the  compass!  We  go  10 
degrees  South  of  East  by  the  compass,  but 
in  fact  we  are  running  several  degrees  North 
of  East!  We  came  East  along  between  the 
Scorpion  and  the  Dipper;  we  were  so  far 


—  19  — 

South  at  Cape  Florida  that  the  heart  of  the 
Scorpion  appeared  almost  over  our  heads, 
but  before  we  got  to  Bremen  the  Pole  Star 
was  so  elevated  that  we  were  nearly  under  it. 
Bremen  is  about  56  degrees  North  latitude, 
while  New  Orleans  is  only  29  degrees.  Day- 
light commences  at  3  o'clock  a.  m.,  and  it  is 
not  dark  till  9. 

Here,  there  is  too  much  to  write  about  in 
a  letter.  I  liave  been  knocking  about  the 
streets,  seeing  the  sights,  and  visiting  the 
museums,  and  I  have  seen  the  Apollo  Belvi- 
dere  and  the  Crucifixion  of  St.  Peter,  by  Ra- 
phael. Tomorrow  I  go  to  Potsdam  and  the 
Mausoleum  at  Charlottenburg.  Then,  off 
for  Vienna,  Rome  and  Naples,  and  back 
through  Paris  and  London. 

How  do  you  get  along  with  Don  Quixote? 
When  college  begins  you  will  have  no  time 
to  read  it.  Do  you  forget  anything  on  Sun- 
day? My  health  is  good.  I  never  missed 
a  meal,  three  times  a  day,  on  the  voyage. 
But,  about  the  channel, — some  of  them 


—  20  — 

missed  me.  It  was  a  veritable  " life  on  the 
ocean  wave."  My  love  ta  our  Kentucky 
relatives .  Good-bye . 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


VIENNA,  AUSTRIA. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  must  write  you  something  about  what  I 
saw  in  Berlin.  It  is  a  great  city.  Ruhmes- 
Halle  has  all  kinds  of  military  inventions, 
and  all  kinds  of  ancient  knights  clothed  in 
steel  ucap  a  pie. ' '  The  national  gallery  and 
the  other  museum  I  visited,  are  stored  with 
celebrated  works  of  art.  There  are  all  man- 
ner of  statues  and  paintings.  Think  of  a 
large  painting  by  Reubens,  of  Hercules,  or 
Bachus  drunk  with  head  hung  down  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  gang  of  Bacchannalians  and 
merry  makers,  male  and  female,  little  and 
big,  and  you  may  form  some  idea  of  how  se- 


—  21  — 

rious  and  at  the  same  time  how  laughable  it 
looks.  Some  of  the  pictures  are  so  life-like 
that  they  look  like  they  might  almost  step 
down  from  the  canvass  and  walk. 

There  is  Christ  preaching  in  a  boat  on  the 
sea,  a  little  square  canoe,  and  the  people  are 
sitting  and  leaning  on  the  bank.  Also  a 
picture  of  Jesns  resurrecting  Lazarus.  A 
large  marble  statue  of  Achilles  dying,  with 
an  arrow  in  his  heel,  recalls  one's  classic 
lore. 

The  Victory  Column,  Sieges-Saule,  (pro- 
nounced zeeges  zoila)  and  the  dome  of  the 
new  Parliament  (Reichstag)  House  are  cov- 
ered or  gilded  with  pure  gold,  and  I  am  told 
that  the  house  will  cost  $25,000,000.  * 

The  zoological  garden  is  full  of  all  nota- 
ble species  of  wild  animals  and  birds,  from 
the  North  Pole  to  the  Capes  Horn  and  Good 
Hope.  There  are  some  giraffes  nearly  half 
as  high  as  our  house.  There  are  immense 
cages  and  dens,  with  convenient  places  for 
exercise,  air  and  sunshine.  The  garden  is 


—  22  — 

a  large,  gently  rolling  forest,  with  lakes  and 
ponds,  of,  I  suppose,  one  or  two  hundred 
acres. 

Potsdam  is  the  residence  of  the  Emperor, 
about  12  or  15  miles  from  Berlin.  I  was  ad- 
mitted to  an  audience  with  the  Emperor. 
The  Palace  is  the  next  station  beyond  Pots- 
dam, but  I  entered  the  Sans  Sonci  Park, 
which  extends  from  the  end  of  Potsdam  to 
the  Palace.  The  mausoleum  of  his  father, 
Frederick,  is  at  the  entrance.  It  is  most 
grand.  It  is  a  large  room  with  a  pictured 
dome.  In  the  center,  about  5  feet  high,  is 
the  marble,  life-size  body  of  Frederick,  laid 
out  in  death.  The  forehead  is  highly  intel- 
lectual. On  the  right  there  is  a  magnifi- 
cent altar,  with  a  life-size  marble  statue  of 
Christ,  laid  out,  and  the  Virgin  Mother 
leaning  over.  On  each  side  of  this  altar 
is  the  bust  of  a  young  prince. 

The  Park  of  Sans  Souci  contains,  I  sup- 
pose, two  hundred  acres  of  great  forest  and 
linden  trees,  laid  out  with  beautiful  flowers, 


walks,  and  a  great  number  of  statues.  I 
strolled  to  the  center,  where  there  is  a  large 
pond  surronnded  by  marble  and  filled  with 
red  fish;  and,  being  tired,  I  rested. 

Then  I  went  through  a  long  central  walk 
parallel  with  the  railway,  at  the  end  of 
which  I  came  to  one  of  the  gates  of  the 
Palace  grounds,  guarded  by  a  sentinel.  I 
had  some  difficulty  to  enter.  It  is  necessa- 
ry, perhaps,  to  prevent  intrusion  by  too 
many  visitors,  to  take  precautions;  but  I  had 
previously  sent  my  card,  and  after  going  to 
one  or  two  other  gates,  and  waiting  awhile, 
a  squad  of  six  soldiers  and  a  corporal  came 
and  I  went  \vith  them  about  two  squares 
when  I  was  turned  over  to^anjfarmed  officer 
with  whom  I  went  about  two  hundred  yards 
and  entered  the  office  of  the  Palace  where 
there  was  a  gentleman  who  ^appeared  to  be  a 
private  secretary.  After  some  parley  with 
him  the  same  officer  conducted  me  back 
through  the  entrance  around  to  the  side  of 
the  Palace,  where  in  a  rather  small  office- 


24  

looking  building  I  was  presented  to  the  Em- 
peror. I  stated  that  I  was  traveling,  and 
had  called  to  make  a  little  visit  and  pay  my 
respects  to  him. 

He  is  rather  a  young  man  and  fine  look- 
ing. He  said  he  does  not  speak  English, 
though  I  think  he  does.  He  said  very  lit- 
tle. I  did  most  of  the  talking;  but  he  has  a 
large  fine  head,  which  I  judge  to  be  full  of 
sense.  He  told  me  he  had  been  visited  late- 
ly by  Mr.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain,)  and  he 
was  very  polite  and  courteous.  Upon  the 
whole,  I  was  very  much  pleased  with  my 
visit.  The  place  looks  grand  and  stately, 
but  I  think  somewhat  lonely,  and -I  doubt 
much  if  the  Emperor  of  all  Germany  is  more 
happy  than  we  are,  considering  the  cares  of 
such  an  empire. 

So,  my  son,  as  Solomon  said,  uThe  dili- 
gent man  shall  stand  before  kings." 

With  my  knowledge  of  German,  I  got 
along  very  well  everywhere. 

I  suppose  you  will  be  going  back   to  Col- 


—  25  — 

lege  at  New  Orleans  soon. 

I  traveled  all  last  night,  and  am  tired;  so 
I  think  I  shall  sleep  awhile  here  and  then 
see  the  pictnres. 

I  hope  to  hear  from  you  at  Rome.     Then 
I  go  to  Naples,  and  back  throngh  Paris  and 
London  and  home  to  New  Orleans. 
Good-bye. 

Yonr  father, 

W.  W.  HANDUN. 
August  19,  1893. 


VENICE,  ITALY,  August  23,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  must  now  write  you  what  I  saw  in 
Vienna. 

The  spire  of  the  Cathedral  is  four  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  feet  high.  I  attended  high 
mass  at  9  o'clock.  At  ten  I  was  conducted 
to  the  church  of  the  Dominican  Convent 
near  by,  and  heard  a  most  eloquent  sermon 


—  26  — 

in  German.  The  preacher  had  a  strong 
Italian  cast  of  features.  My  host  was  my 
guide.  I  have  plenty  to  tell  you  about  him. 
He  is  a  regular  Sancho  Panza.  It  seems  I 
have  the  luck  to  find  the  people  and  places 
I  need  everywhere. 

The  Cathedral  is  a  very  long  and  wide 
church,  but  the  entrance,  say  half ,  is  cut  off 
by  large  iron  gates,  and  seems  to  be  a  gath- 
ering place.  Seven  immense  columns  on 
each  side,  wTith  arches,  stand  about  one-fifth 
of  the  width  from  the  side  walls,  and  extend 
the  whole  length  of  the  church;  and  on  the 
altar  side  of  those  large  iron  gates  those 
arches  are  connected  so  as  to  divide  the 
church  into  three  churches  with  an  altar  in 
each,  but  an  arch  on  each  side  near  the  al- 
tar is  left  open,  which  forms  two  great  doors 
connecting  the  whole. 

The  Cathedral  is  grand  and  majestic,  but 
the  ceiling  is  not  painted  and  frescoed,  and 
for  beauty  of  coloring  and  delicately  framed 


—  27  — 

windows  it  is  not  equal  to  our  own  Jesuit's 
Church  in  New  Orleans. 

In  a  street  near  by,  I  was  shown  a  slim 
monumental  spire,  forty  or  fifty  feet  high, 
in  commemoration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It 
is  full  of  heads  and  representations  on  the 
sides,  looking  rather  ragged,  which  I  sup- 
pose are  the  apostles,  or  the  people  upon 
whom  the  Holy  Ghost  descended,  but  I  had 
no  time  to  examine  or  inquire. 

In  a  large  wide  place,  or  street,  is  seated 
a  large  majestic  statue  of  Maria  Theresa, 
the  celebrated  Austrian  Queen.  There  is  a 
fine  State  park,  very  beautiful. 

Vienna,  which  they  write  Wien,  and  pro- 
nounce veen,  is  a  very  fine  city,  and  the 
places  of  interest  are  central  and  easy  of  ac- 
cess. The  bouses  are  four,  five,  and  six 
stories  high,  and  they  have  flats,  like  in 
New  York. 

Where  I  stopped,  the  water  when  fresh 
was  good  to  drink  and  clear,  and  they  told 
me  it  was  brought  by  an  acqueduct.  But 


—  28  — 

they  were  astonished  to  see  me  drink  water, 
and  offered  me  something  to  drink  every- 
where, which  I  politely  declined  a  la  Mfji- 
cana,  with  uNo,  Senor,  gracias." 

One  young  fellow  in  the  cars  was  so  tak- 
en with  me  and^  my  German  that  he  would 
not  be  denied,  so  I  was  forced  to  take  a 
swallow  out  of  his  bottle,  which  tasted  like 
some  sort  of  whiskey,  but  luckily  it  did  not 
make  my  head  swim. 

I  forgot  something  about  the  Cathedral: 
At  the  usual  time  the  brother  collector, 
dressed  in  plain  red,  with  a  cap,  came 
along.  He  had  a  long  painted  cup,  a  little 
bigger  than  a  vichy  bottle,  with  the  bottom 
turned  up,  upon  the  top  of  which  was  a  slot 
and  on  the  bottom,  a  little  extended,  .there 
was  an  ornamental  knot.  This  cup  was  at- 
tached to  the  bent  end  of  a  stick,  two 
branches  of  which  went  over  a  rivet  causing 
the  cup  to  swing.  Very  few  put  anything 
into  the  cup,  but  whenever  anyone  did  give 
anything  the  brother  very  humbly  said, 


—  29  — 

"Gratia!"  I  put  a  kreuzer  in  the  cup,  but 
before  the  mass  was  over,  along  came  an- 
other collector  from  one  of  the  sides,  so  I 
put  in  another  kreuzer  just  to  hear  him  say 
"Gratia."  And  I  believe  if  twenty  had 
come  along  I  would  have  put  in  a  kreuzer 
every  time.  I  had  my  pockets  full  of  the 
things.  It  was  only  a  half  cent. 

I  am  getting  along  so  well,  and  feel  so 
much  at  home,  that  I  begin  to  look  with  no 
little  contempt  on  the  dread  I  formerly  en- 
tertained of  a  trip  to  Europe.  You  can 
spend  as  much,  and  as  little,  almost,  as 
you  please.  One  pair  of  new  American 
black  jeans  pants  will  do  me  the  whole  trip, 
and,  well  brushed,  they  are  respectable 
enough  and  warm  enough  in  Germany, 
where  some  wear  overcoats  in  the  middle  of 
August,  and  not  too  hot  in  Italy.  Then, 
with  a  New  Orleans  fifty-cent  dark  calico 
sack,  an  alpaca  vest,  and  a  cent  white  cra- 
vat, you  are  quite  a  dude  in  Europe.  How- 
ever, should  5^ou  grow  as  tall  as  I  am,  you 


—  30  — 

ought  not  to  go  too  shabby,  or  you  might 
be  taken  for  an  English  lord  traveling  in- 
cognito. By  the  way,  in  the  middle  of  Vi- 
enna my  guide  pointed  out  an  immense 
house  of  iron,  five  stories  high,  belonging 
to  some  great  Englishman. 

In  traveling,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  say 
uja"  to  everything.  It  is  better  to  submit 
and  not  get  angry,  even  if  you  are  a  little 
wronged,  and  have  no  dispute  about  any- 
thing less  than  a  dollar,  for  a  dollar 
will  hardly  pay  to  get  angry.  I  had  two 
44  jaws  n  from  Berlin  to  Vienna,  and  the 
first  time  I  came  off  victor,  though  I  had  a 
tough  old  German  to  deal  with.  He  was  a 
peddler,  and  while  waiting  at  the  depot,  I 
looked  at  his  things  in  a  basket,  and  picked 
up  something  I  thought  was  a  whistle,  but 
when  I  put  it  in  my  mouth  to  blow  it,  he 
considered  it  sold,  and  wanted  to  compel  me 
to  buy  it.  It  was  only  two  cents  and  one 
half,  but  when  I  found  it  was  a  cigar  holder 
I  refused  to  take  it,  as  I  do  not  smoke.  He 


appealed  to  the  police,  and  I  thought  'that 
1  might  have  to  have  a  trial  of  the  case,  but 
I  explained  it  to  the  police,  and  an  officer 
kept  the  whistle,  which  ended  the  matter. 
The  other  row  was  with  a  conductor,  who 
forced  me  to  pay  for  baggage,  when  I  had 
my  ticket,  and  had  not  done  so  before;  so  I 
would  have  my  money,  and  got  off  the 
train.  But  it  cost  me  more,  for  I  was  in 
Austria,  and  made  a  mistake  in  getting  on 
the  wrong  train. 

They  speak  about  so  many  Americans 
traveling,  but  I  only  met  one  in  Germany 
and  Austria,  and  he  was  in  the  museum  at 
Berlin. 

I  hope  what  I  saw  in  Vienna  will  interest 
you  and  be  appreciated  by  you.  I  should 
have  stayed  another  day  to  visit  the  muse- 
ums, but  it  was  Monday,  and  for  some  rea- 
son or  other,  being  a  feast  day  I  suppose, 
they  were  closed.  No,  it  was  cleaning  up 
day.  I  was  shown  in  a  show-case  window 


—  32  — 

a  fine  portrait  of   Francis  Joseph,    who  ap- 
pears to  be  about  seventy. 

In  buying  things,  I  pull  out  a  handful  of 
kreuzers  and  silver  pieces,  and  tell  them  to 
help  themselves,  and  they  never  abuse  the 
privilege  and  never  take  too  much. 

Coming  out  from  Vienna  I  fell  in  with 
the  engineer  contractor  of  the  acqueduct,  a 
large,  fat  old  man,  who  told  me  that  his 
master  was  Gabrielli,  the  architect  of  Lon- 
don,— in  broken  English,  of  which  he  was 
very  proud.  I  asked  him  how  much  he  had 
made  out  of  it,  which  was  an  indiscretion, 
and  he  answered  that  the  whole  work  had 
cost  100,000  pounds ;  but  I  pressed  my 
question  as  to  how  much  he  had  made,  and 
he  shook  his  sides  and  laughed  and  said  he 
had  eaten  his  part  all  up.  I  told  him  I  was 
a  lawyer,  and  that  he  must  forgive  me  for 
asking  questions,  and  then  he  laughed 
agaili.  Further  information  informed  me 
that  the  acqueduct  came  from  the  Alps, 
one  hundred  and  forty  English  miles. 


—  33  — 

But  what  did  I  see  in  Vienna?  Warten 
Sie  einen  Augenblick!  Hier!  Komme  doch! 
The  German  is  running  in  my  head  so  that 
I  almost  dream  in  it,  as  I  used  to  do  in 
Spanish,  when  I  learned  it  in  Mexico.  But 
German  is  not  spoken  here,  and  if  it  were 
I  could  not  tell  you  in  German,  as  there  is 
too  much  of  it. 

My  Sancho  was  at  fault  about  the  Eng- 
lishman's house.  Only  ornamental  parts 
are  of  iron,  the  rest  is  of  stone  and  marble. 
The  iron  oak  on  the  corners  is  a  represen- 
tation of  the  great  historical  oak  into  which 
in  old  times  every  visitor  drove  a  nail,  and 
the  house  belonged  not  to  an  Englishman 
at  all,  but  to  the  New  York  Life  Insur- 
ance Co. 

Germany  is  a  gently  rolling  country, 
susceptible  of  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
and  almost  every  foot  seems  to  be  utilized. 
From  its  age,  it  is  necessary,  and  the  land 
is  systematically  fertilized.  Did  I  describe 
it  before? 


—  34  — 

Approaching  Austria,  a  little  east  of 
Dresden,  going  up  the  river  Elbe,  I  struck 
the  hills,  large  and  treeless,  something  like 
Hardin's  Knob,  in  Crittenden  county,  Ken- 
tucky. There  are  many  short  tunnels. 
Austria  is  more  hilly  than  Germany.  I 
saw  places  cultivated  which  were  steeper 
than  a  straight  stairway.  But  for  miles 
around  Vienna,  there  are  vast  well-lying 
fields.  The  people  live  in  villages  called 
Dorfer. 

A  couple  of  thousand  acres  will  be  culti- 
vated by  the  people  of  one  village;  and  ow- 
ing to  the  different  owners  the  fields  are  di- 
vided into  small  strips  and  patches,  giving 
pretty  views  from  the  different  colors  of  the 
plants — sugar  beets,  buckwheat,  oats,  and 
other  growths. 

The  villages  are  something  like  the  quar- 
ters on  our  large  sugar  plantations,  but 
jumbled  together.  Fifty  miles  south  of  Vi- 
enna we  struck  the  hills,  and  in  the  evening 
two  Italians  counted  fourteen  tunnels.  I 


—  35  — 

don't  know  how  many  we  passed  in  the 
night.  Approaching  Venice,  the  Tyrolean 
Mountains  are  on  the  right,  and  the  wa- 
ters, bays,  and  inlets  of  the  Adriatic  Sea 
are  on  the  left. 

Along  there  is  the  rockiest  country  I  ever 
saw.  The  trip  was  twenty-five  hours  and 
all  night. 

You  must  change  your  money  on  the  line 
of  every  county,  and  get  money  of  the 
country  into  which  you  go,  but  American 
gold  is  taken  at  all  stations.  Also,  your 
carpet-bag  is  examined. 

So,  good-bye. 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


—  36  — 

ROME,  ITALY,  August  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  am  impelled  to  write  you  what  I  saw  in 
Berlin.  However,  I  must  state  that  in 
Vienna,  nobody  seemed  to  know  where 
Venice  is.  They  have  two  or  three  names 
for  it,  Venedig,  pronounced  "Vaynaydick," 
and  another  place  somewhere  in  Hungary 
like  it,  so  that  when  I  went  to  the  South 
Depot  early,  they  sent  me  to  another  depot 
where  I  met  an  intelligent  officer  who  sent 
me  back  to  the  South  Depot.  There,  after 
pulling ;out  my  map  (Cook's)  on  him,  the 
ticket  seller  had  to  succumb,  and  I  got  off 
at  one  o'clock. 

While  waiting  at  the  depot  in  Berlin,  I  fell 
in  with  an  Italian  widow  with  such  sparkling 
dark  eyes  as  you  never  saw.  She  smoked  her 
cigarette,  and  spoke  several  languages  as 
well  as  German .  We  had  a  long  convers^- 
tion, — she  speaking  Italian  ajid  I  Spanish, 
and  we  were  perfectly  comprehensible. 
German  is  no  longer  spoken,  and  I  have  to 


—  37  — 

draw  on  my  French  and  Spanish,  rather 
Spanish,  for  when  the}7  have  not  studied  a 
little  French,  Spanish  is  better. 

On  arriving  in  Venice,    I  made  my  way 
through  porters  and  gondolier  men,    stroll- 
ing   along  the  very  narrow    alleys  between 
high  houses,    which  are    necessary  in  this 
climate    because  they  are  cool,     inquiring, 
"Do  Rialto?"       You  may    remember    the 
clause  in  Shakespeare's  Shylock,  beginning 
uOft  on  the  Rial  to. "    It  is  the  same  bridge, 
built  in  1600,    nearly  300  years  old.     It  is 
stone  and  marble,   and  very  durable.     It  is 
across    water — the   Grand  Canal — probably 
150  feet  wide,  and  elevated, rising  by  a  long 
stairway  on  each  side,  with  low,  easy,  mar- 
ble steps,   and  frequent    landings,  and  the 
top  is  only  about  thirty  feet  across.     Then 
I    went  along  inquiring    for    San  Marco's 
Church.     There    I    found  a  big,    fat  man, 
speaking  French,   who  offered   to    show  me 
the  church    for  a  franc,   and  I  accepted  his 
services.     It  is  useless  for  me  to  attempt  to 


—  88  — 

describe  it.  The  whole  New  Testament 
history  is  represented  by  great  pictures 
inside  and  outside.  I  supposed  it  was  fres- 
coed, but  was  told  it  was  mosaic.  I  frank- 
ly confess  I  never  knew  what  mosaic  meant 
before,  having  only  seen  some  floors  with 
us  of  small  pieces  of  colored  marble.  But 
it  is  marvelous,  not  to  say  miraculous. 
Think  of  all  those  great  pictures  of  Christ 
and  the  saints  being  made  out  of  small 
pieces, — the  floor  of  marble,  and  the  upper 
part  pieces  of  glass  of  different  colors.  Ev- 
erything in  Venice  is  mosaic;  it  is  there  a 
specialty.  San  Marco  is  a  great  square 
sort  of  a  church,  not  divided,  but  with 
small  marble  pillars, — nothing  like  the  Ca- 
thedral in  Vienna  in  style  of  architecture. 
After  kneeling  and  saying  my  prayers  to 
Almighty  God  in  the  temple  of  worship,  I 
strolled  out  with  my  heavy  sack  in  the  nar- 
row alleys,  which  are  fullfof  fancy,  dainty 
shops,  to  hunt  a  place  to  sleep. 

The  water  streets  for  gondolas,  twenty  or 


—  39  — 

thirty  feet  wide,  are  a  little  distant  from 
each  other,  and  about  fonr  feet  below  the 
banquette  for  foot  passengers  on  the  sides. 
I  pa^ed  over  a  little  bridge  and  entered  a 
house.  While  I  was  trying  to  talk  with 
the  women,  a  gentleman  came  out  speaking 
a  little  French,  and  he  sent  his  servant  girl 
with  me  to  a  lady,  through  two  or  three 
narrow  passages,  but  the  lady  had  no  place. 
Then  I  went  on  by  myself,  and  while  I 
was  talking  with  an  old  lady  at  a  window,  a 
little  man  stuck  his  head  out  of  an  opposite 
window  and  told  me  to  come  in.  Upstairs 
he  showed  me  a  good  room  and  bed.  The 
beds  were  all  too  short,  except  in  Venice. 
He  was  very  full  of  talk,  and  after  awhile 
he  would  go  with  me  to  a  restaurant.  After 
I  had  dined  I  wanted  to  go  back  to  rest, 
but  he  wound  me  around,  and  directly  we 
came  upon  San  Marco,  but  I  told  him  I  had 
seen  it,  so  he  would  have  me  to  pass  by  the 
Ducal  Palace,  which  stands  out  from  San 
Marco,  through  which  it  is  connected  by  a 


—  40  — 

great  door,  and  fronts  on  the  harbor,  a  very 
beautiful  sheet  of  water,  the  Palace  stand- 
ing on  the  back  of  the  crescent.  There  we 
seated  ourselves  to  rest,  and  see  the  people 
pass  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  It  is  very 
clean  and  well  paved,  about  a  hundred  feet 
from  the  water,  extending  around  an  arc  of 
a  mile  or  two.  There  are  a  great  many 
pretty,  dark  pigeons  which  light  down  in 
the  square  in  front  of  San  Marco,  and  are 
fed  by  the  people  throwing  bread  to  them. 
Finally  I  got  to  the  house,  nearly  dead; 
but  the  clean  bed  and  sheets  reminded  me 
of  the  luxury  of  clean  sheets  described  by 
Dumas  in  one  of  his  French  tales. 

Next  morning  at  seven,  the  hour  agreed, 
he  rapped  at  the  door  crying  out  uBuon 
Giorno," — or  something  like  it,  for  I  don't 
write  Italian, — but  I  was  writing  and  would 
not  let  him  in  for  an  hour.  When  I  opened 
the  door  he  shook  me  by  the  hand  and 
wanted  to  know  how  I  slept,  as  they  do  in 
Spanish:  "Corno  ha  dormido  V?"  Then  he 


—  41  — 

brought  in  his  little  girl,  about  like  my 
Laelia,  to  say  good  morning.  Poor  thing  ! 
I  gave  her  some  coin  when  I  left,  and  kissed 
her.  Then  he  brought  in  his  large  poodle 
dog,  with  his  bell  and  muzzle,  to  say  good 
morning!  He  was  so  amiable  that  he 
wanted  to  dress  me — said  I  was  "bello"  tall 
and  wide.  I  could  not  move  but  he  was 
there,  and  he  would  have  in}'  address  to 
present  to  the  authorities;  in  fact,  by  put- 
ting on  all  my  good  nature,  I  was  able  to 
stand  it,  and  it  was  rather  amusing.  So 
far  they  are  no  more  like  the  non-talkative, 
know-nothing,  dago  Italians  we  have  in 
New  Orleans  than  the  children  of  the  moon. 
They  have  large,  square,  Roman  faces. 
Out  we  went  to  the  quai,  and  had  coffee  in 
a  shaded  booth  in  front  of  the  Ducal  Palace. 
After  waiting,  and  reading  the  papers  for 
awhile, — as  the  Academia  di  Belle  Arti 
does  not  open  till  ten, — he  would  take  me 
upon  the  (k giant  stairway"  to  the  second 
story  of  the  Ducal  Palace.  There  we 


-  42  — 

marched  all  around,  and  saw  all  the  stat- 
nes  and  busts  of  all  great  Venetians — Marco 
Polo,  Dante,  and  others;  and  the  upper 
stories  are  full  of  historical  paintings,  but 
I  reserved  that  for  some  future  trip,  per- 
haps, as  there  is  not  time  enough  to  do  ev- 
erything at  once.  If  you  want  to  read  about 
Venice,  you  might  read  Byron's  Doge  and 
the  Two  Fascari. 

I  kept  saying  "Academia,"  and  my  host 
guide  wound  round  again,  passing  through 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  that  has  one  grand 
altar  and  twelve  small  ones.  Then  through 
another  church  with  Doric  columns.  At 
last  we  crossed  the  Grand  Canal  on  a 
bridge  and  came  to  the  Academic  Picture 
Gallery  at  half  past  ten.  The  statues  are 
good,  but  I  like  the  mellow  light  of  the 
painters.  It  was  closed. 

He  took  me  round  the  building  and 
was  going,  but  I  made  him  understand 
that  I  must  go  in.  So,  to  my  great  relief,  he 
left  me.  Well,  I  was  two  hours  getting 


—  43  — 

around,  cursorily,  and  I  might  go  there  a 
week  if  I  had  time.  It  is  too  great  a  task 
to  particularize  what  I  saw.  1  refer  you  to 
the  Encyclopedia  Britanica  and  the  Ency- 
clopedia Americana,  which  you  will  find  in 
the  Tulane  Library. 

A  great  statue  of  Hercules  throwing  Lu- 
cas into  the  sea  is  very  remarkable;  in  his 
left  hand  he  has  the  victim  by  one  foot,  over 
his  head,  and  with  his  right  hand  he  has 
the  hair  of  his  head  behind.  Both  men  are 
naked,  and  express  intense  pain  and  pas- 
sion. Then  there  is  Titian's  great  " As- 
sumption," ten  feet  wide  by  twenty-five 
feet  high.  The  colors  are  exceedingly 
bright  and  lovely.  The  Virgin  is  in  the 
center  surrounded  by  angels;  the  Apostles 
below,  and  the  Eternal  with  Cherubim 
above.  Then,  by  Ballin,  there  is  the  Mar- 
tyrdom of  St.  Sebastian,  who  is  shot  with 
arrows.  But  I  must  stop.  I  would  fain 
have  been  silent,  and  would  have  preferred 
to  have  relegated  you  to  books  of  trav- 


—  44  — 

el;  but  perchance  what  your  father  says 
will  attract  you  more. 

"What  I  Saw  in  Europe"  would  be  a 
very  good  title  for  a  book,  would  it  not? 
No,  thank  you.  I  write  no  more  books. 
One  small  one  was  quite  enough.  But  I 
am  afraid  I  will  tire  you  with  what  I  saw 
in  Europe. 

In  Germany  and  Austria  the  old  fash- 
ioned apple  trees,  full  of  apples,  which  I  had 
not  seen  for  years,  were  very  grateful  to 
look  upon,  and  the  stunted  Indian  corn  re- 
minded me  of  our  own  dear  land.  But  the 
ears  were  what  we  called  nubbins  when  I 
was  a  boy.  I  don't  know  what  they  call 
them  now — they  have  so  many  new  names. 
In  Venice  at  dinner  they  gave  me  nice 
bread  soup,  and  when  I  stirred  it  up,  there 
was  a  fresh  boiled  egg  at  the  bottom, — a 
thing  I  never  saw  before;  and  I  have  eaten 
all  kinds  of  soup,  even  to  an  allowance  of 
one  plate  a  day  of  mule  soup,  in  the  siege  of 
Granada,  Nicaragua,  as  you  have  heard 


—  45  — 

me  say.  As  to  meats,  they  know  nothing 
but  "bifstek"  and  potatoes,  which  were 
good,  but  if  I  wanted  anything  else,  I  had 
to  go  to  the  kitchen  and  point  it  out,  for 
they  know  not  what  vegetables  mean. 

Finally,  my  last  evening  in  Venice,  I 
was  tugged  away  by  my  everlasting  guide 
on  a  long  tramp  to  a  fine  garden  to  the  left 
of  the  quai  in  front.  I  would  rather  have  lain 
down  on  the  floor  to  rest,  but  he  said  uAria 
di  mare!  Salubre,  molto  salubre!n  And  when 
we  got  there  the  air  was  fine,  sure  enough. 
He  took  great  pride  in  showing  me  at  the 
entrance  of  the  garden  the  statue  of  Gari- 
baldi and  one  of  his  soldiers. 

I  saw  other  things  in  Venice,  interesting 
enough,  but  I  can  tell  you  about  them 
viva  voce,  should  I  recross  the  Atlantic  in 
safety. 

Next  morning,  I  was  up  at  three  o'clock 
to  catch  the  train  at  half  past  four,  but 
partly  owing  to  the  officiousness  of  my 
guide,  who  would  go  with  me,  and  partly 


—  46  — 

owing    to  my  imperfect   understanding    of 
Italian,  I  was  much  detained  in  getting  my 
ticket,    so  I    missed   the  train    one  minute, 
and  had  to  wait  five  hours;    when,    after  a 
few  smothered  carrajos,  I  got  off. 
So,  good-bye. 
Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


ROME,  ITALY,  August,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

In  leaving  Venice,  we  turned  gradually,to 
the  left,  through  a  flat,  fertile  country,  the 
Tyrolean  Hills  always  to  the  right  in  the 
distance.  The  vine  is  cultivated  there. 
Furrows  of  small  trees,  about  as  large  as 
peach  trees,  stand  about  ten  feet  apart  and 
the  vines  swing  between.  Then,  there  is  a 
space  to  the  next  two  rows  of  one  hundred 
yards,  and  so  on — the  spaces  being  planted 
in  Indian  corn,  or  cereals.  This  is  nothing 


—  47  — 

like  the  California  vineyards.  There,  great 
fields  are  planted,  with  vines  standing  twice 
as  far  apart  as  tobacco  plants  in  Kentucky. 
The  branches  are  cut  off  three  or  four  feet 
from  the  ground,  giving  them  an  appearance 
of  stout  shrubs  covered  with  great  clusters 
of  large  grapes. 

About  thirty  miles  from  Venice  we  struck 
the  hills  and  went  through  a  long  tunnel. 
Then  we  passed  through  alternate  hills  and 
valleys  for  about  twenty  miles,  after  which 
the  hills  disappeared,  and  we  entered  a 
flat  country,  well  ditched,  and  cultivated  in 
corn  and  something  high  like  hemp.  Also 
there  was  a  small  growth,  with  flowers  of  a 
bluish  color,  which  I  .understood  to  be  for 
some  kind  of  salts.  The  ditches  were  a 
hundred  yards  apart,  between  rows  of  small 
willow  and  cotton  wood  trees.  We  crossed 
several  canals  and  we  passed  over  some 
elevated  railroad,  also. 

In  Berlin  and  other  cities  the  railroads  are 
elevated,  on  banks  twelve  or  fifteen  feet 


—  48  — 

high.  I  was  alone  in  a  small,  non-smoking 
compartment,  with  two  flat  seats  reaching 
across  the  car,  and  a  very  nice  lady  from 
Florence.  So,  with  the  permission  of  the 
lady,  I  pulled  off  my  coat  and  stretched  my- 
self out,  not  to  sleep  bnt  to  rest.  At  half 
past  two,  we  came  to  Bologna,  at  the 
edge  of  the  hill  on  the  right.  There  I  had 
to  wait  for  another  train  for  an  all  night 
ride  to  Rome,  a  thing  I  fain  would  have 
avoided. 

Well,  we  got  through  the  night  on  the 
cars  quicker  than  yon  wotild  think.  It  is  a 
sort  of  stnpid,  half -wake,  half-sleep  drum- 
ming and  banging  one  gets.  Still,  it  was 
cooler,  and  the  night  was  delightful.  One 
night,  np  in  Austria,  I  got  very  cold  with 
my  alpaca,  because  I  wore  it  all  the  way 
from  New  Orleans.  Here,  the  calico  sack 
is  sufficient.  A  charming  yonng  Venetian 
doctor,  Mr.  Leone  Maestro,  got  011  in  the 
night.  He  is  twenty-three  years  old,  and 
goes  to  Rome  to  practice.  He  asked  me  all 


—  49  - 

sorts    of  questions,  in  very  bad   French,  but 
he  pleased  me. 

We  were  to  arrive  in  Rome  at  7:30  a.  m., 
and  at  4:30,  the  stars  yet  shining,  I  was  tip 
to  view  the  approach  to  Rome.  We  were 
probably  60  miles  to  the  northwest.  There 
was  a  little  river  on  the  left,  with  hills 
around,  and  but  little  land  to  cultivate.  In 
half  an  hour  we  came  to  a  better  country, 
but  scarcely  any  houses.  At  near  six  we 
passed  Orte,  a  town  on  the  hill  to  the  left, 
and  I  knew  we  were  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Tiber.  I  noticed  some  little  trees  planted, 
and  the  doctor  told  me  they  were  Frumento, 
to  make  some  sort  of  bread  to  eat.  Still  the 
stunted  Indian  corn  was  seen,  and  the 
grounds  of  the  valley  began  to  open  out 
very  lovely,  with  treeless  hills  on  the  sides. 
Some  other  little  planted  trees  the  doctor 
made  me  understand  were  to  feed  worms, 
and  I  suppose  they  were  mulberry  trees. 
Then  I  noticed  on  the  gentle  hillsides  some 
very  pretty  orchards  of  bright,  bunchy  trees > 


—  50  — 

which  I  understood  from  him  were  for  oil, 
and  they  must  have  been  olive  trees.  In  30 
miles  from  Rome  the  valley  spread  out  very 
wide  with  beautiful  lands.  Descending  the 
Tiber  from  the  northwest  I  failed  to  see  the 
Roman  Campagna,  so  much  talked  about, 
for  there  were  grass,  hay,  shepherds  and 
cattle  close  up  to  the  city.  The  depot  goes 
right  into  the  edge  of  the  city. 

In  Rome  we  went  down  a  wide,  national 
street  a  few  blocks,  with  five  and  six  story 
houses  on  each  side,  to  take  breakfast,  and 
to  see  my  consul,  Mr.  Jones,  from  Florida. 
He  would  not  be  there  till  10:30,  when 
we  went  back  to  a  house  near  the  depot 
where  the  doctor  was  going  to  board,  at  the 
house  of  a  lawyer.  A  couple  of  squares  off, 
they  sent  me  to  the  elevated  flat  of  a  widow 
lady,  where  I  got  a  nice  bed  at  a  mod- 
erate rate.  But  what  a  bother  !  In  the 
streets  we  were  beset  with  people;  some  boys 
would  carry  our  packs  for  anything  at  all, 
and  when  we  gave  them  something,  they 


—  51  — 

wanted  more.  The  young  doctor  went  with 
me  to  find  a  room,  and  a  servant  man  went 
along  without  being  asked.  When  we  got 
there,  he  wanted  something.  I  was  tired 
and  refused.  I  like  to  give  voluntarily,  but 
don't  like  to  be  forced  to  do  anything.  The 
doctor  tried  to  persuade  me  that  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  country;  I  told  him  I  was  a 
stranger  and  knew  nothing.  I  went  back 
to  the  Consulate  about  12  m.  I  got  your 
letter  and  one  from  Lulu.  As  to  your  in- 
quiry whether  the  old  wall  of  Rome  still  ex- 
ists, the  consul  told  me  that  the  wall  of 
Aurelian  is  almost  entire.  I  refer  you  to 
the  heads,  "Rome"  and  u Aurelian"  in  the 
Encyclopedia,  for  correct  information. 

At  12  the  doctor  came  punctually  with 
the  young  lawyer.  I  then  found  that  he 
spoke  better  German  than  French,  and 
thereafter  we  conversed  in  that  horse  lan- 
guage. We  went  by  the  New  National 
Bank,  a  simple  building,  and  jumped  into 
a  street  car,  passed  Trajan's  Pillar,  and 


crossed  the  Tiber  on  a  great  bridge,  to  St. 
Peter's.  The  Tiber,  the  doctor  said,  is  be- 
tween 20  and  30  feet  deep,  yellow,  and 
about  as  wide  as  the  Cumberland.  At  two, 
we  took  a  cab,  at  a  half  a  franc  apiece,  and 
returned.  When  we  got  out  we  met  the 
old  lawyer,  who  laughed  when  he  saw  the 
amount  of  change,  mostly  copper,  his  son 
brought  me  for  a  five  franc  note.  The  old 
man  bought  a  big  handful  of  luscious  figs 
for  three  cents,  took  a  few,  and  gave  me  the 
rest.  We  then  parted,  to  rest  and  sleep. 

Should  you  ever  travel,  I  advise  you  not 
to  refuse,  but  to  scatter  your  centimes  with- 
out stint;  and  in  this  you  need  not  imitate 
me,  for  the  people  are  very  poor  and  it  does 
not  cost  much.  But  it  is  hard  to  teach  old 
men  new  things.  I  find  I  have  been  robbed 
at  the  stations.  For  a  ten-dollar  gold  piece 
in  Germany  they  gave  me  forty  marks,  and 
in  Italy  but  thirty-eight;  while  for  a  two 
pound  sterling  note  they  gave  fifty  francs. 
But  our  cashier  has  given  me  the  name  of 


—  53  — 

a  broker  who  will   give  me  the  worth  of  my 
gold. 

Jesus  Christ  said  not  to  hide  our  light  un- 
der a  bushel,  but  to  set  it  upon  a  hill.  Thus 
I,  in  these  letters,  am  trying  to  elevate  my 
feeble  light  the  best  I  can,  so  you  can  see 
clearly  and  learn  something  therefrom.  You 
see  how  I  have  been  bothered  by  not  know- 
ing Italian,  and  that  every  language  to  a 
traveler  makes  him  worth  another  man. 
Therefore,  I  hope  you  will  get  over  the  fool- 
ish prejudice  of  the  tip-town  American  Cre- 
oles against  the  down-town  French  ugay- 
gaysn  and  apply  yourself  vigorously  to 
French. 

The  air  here  is  good,  and  I  think  healthy. 
The  climate  in  Italy  is  very  much  like  ours 
iu  New  Orleans,  but  they  have  no  mosquito 
bars  here  or  in  Venice,  though  in  the  latter 
place  I  did  hear  a  few  friendly,  innocuous 
mosquitos  sing  about  the  bed.  You  know 
we  could  not  pass  our  summers  without 
bars;  but  I  suppose  that  Italy  is  so  close  to 


54  

the  sea  on  all  sides  that  those  pests  are 
swept  away  by  the  breezes.  I  shall  be  sure 
to  buy  your  English  razor,  though  I  think 
the  style  now  is  for  young  men  not  to 
shave,  and  I  am  persuaded  the  ladies  like 
it  better. 

Rome  is  built  on  rolling  ground;  the 
streets  are  wide  and  clean,  and  the  drainage 
appears  to  be  good.  The  houses  are  high 
and  solid.  The  part  near  our  entrance,  on 
the  northwest,  I  understood  to  be  only  a  few 
years  old.  But  the  most  of  the  houses  are, 
say,  three  hundred  years  old.  Rome,  in 
the  time  of  Augustus,  had  about  four  mil- 
lion inhabitants, — something  like  London 
now.  Under  one  of  the  Popes  it  was  re- 
reduced  to  thirty  thousand,  owing  to  the 
massacres  by  the  Goths  and  Vandals.  Gib- 
bon will  tell  you  all  about  it.'  So,  good- 
night. 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


—  55  — 

ROME,  ITALY,  August  26,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

There  are  so  many  books  about  Rome  that 
it  is  useless  for  me  to  attempt  a  description. 
E.  K.  Washington's  book  of  travels  at  home 
is  full  of  it.  Indeed,  the  word  Rome,  itself, 
expresses  it  all.  But  having  written  you  so 
much  already ,  you  may  expect  more ,  and  I 
will  now  send  you  a  few  pen-paintings  of 
what  I  saw  in  Rome. 

Well,  after  a  night  of  travel,  the  first 
pretty  thing  I  saw  on  leaving  the  depot,  in 
a  large,  well-paved  space,  was  a  lovely  foun- 
tain, sparkling  in  the  morning  sun.  The 
central  spout  went  up  thirty  feet,  and  from 
a  lower  brim,  outside  of  the  basin,  fine 
curved  streams  of  clear  water,  six  inches 
apart,  went  over  into  the  basin, — the  whole 
commingling  together.  And  still  further 
out,  four  great  lions,  one  on  each  side,  were 
spouting  water  outwardly  and  downwardly. 
To  the  right  of  this  stood  the  Baths  of  Dio- 
clesian,  a  large  brick,  tumble-down  con- 


—  56  - 

cern,    with  shops  and    fruit-stands  about   it, 
the  oiitside  of  which  was  enough  for  me. 

We  started  out  on  our  second  morning  for 
the  Coliseum.  After  walking  on  a  good 
while,  looking  for  a  street  car,  we  were  told 
it  was  not  far,  and  kept  walking.  Turning 
to  our  left,  and  going  up  a  hill,  we  were 
shown  the  large,  handsome  church  of  San 
Pietro  in  Vincoli  Jianicoli,  and  went  in. 
There  sat  a  very  large,  gray  marble  statue  of 
Moses,  with  the  two  tables  of  stone  under 
his  right  arm.  Sandals  were  on  his 
feet,  he  had  a  great  beard,  and  the  strong, 
majestic  face  was  expressive  of  highly  intel- 
lectual power.  It  was  by  Michael  Angelo. 
Going  out,  we  passed  a  little  over  the  hill, 
and  beneath  stood  the  Coliseum. 

uRuines  de  Palmy  re  !"  If  Volney  was 
ever  here,  he  might  have  written  as  he  did 
about  Palmyra:  " Ruins  of  Rome,  I  salute 
you!"  It  is  a  vast,  grim,  circular  wall,  I 
judge  80  feet  high,  more  or  less%  The  base- 
ment story  has  great  arched  doors,  20  feet 


high.  The  next  two  stories  have  similar 
arched  openings,  fifteen  feet  high.  Then 
the  wall  goes  tip,  thirty  or  forty  feet,  with 
openings  or  windows  four  or  five  feet  square. 
There  are  four  great  projecting  rims  or  cor- 
nices, one  at  the  top  and  the  others  lower 
down.  We  went  around  to  the  right,  and 
found  a  free  passage  on  the  ground  into  the 
arena.  Only  about  three-fourths  seemed  to 
be  used  for  the  show;  the  other  portion  had 
openings  that  descended  into  caves,  where,  I 
suppose,  the  wild  beasts  were  kept.  As  we 
looked  up  these  sloping  slants  of  bare,  de- 
caying walls,  I  could  not  help  but  reflect  on 
the  vast  throngs  who  sat  there,  full  of  life, 
nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  and  enjoyed 
the  cruel  scenes  of  poor  gladiators  done  to 
death,  and  the  martyred  Christians,  torn  and 
mangled  by  tigers  and  lions.  That  was 
the  kind  of  theatres  they  had  then  !  Ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Washington,  who  is  author- 
ity, that  building  was  begun  A.  D.  62,  by 
Vespasian  and  completed  by  Titus. 


—  58  — 

Not  far   from  there,   we   came   upon  the 

Arch   of  Constantine,  a   massive  structure 

t 
sixty  feet  high,  standing  bolt  across    a  wide  I 

street,  with  three  great  arches  for  passage 
and  travel.  To  the  right,  a  couple  of  hun- 
dred yards  up  a  slope,  stands  the  Arch  of 
Titus,  at  and  about  the  Forum.  Beyond, 
the  low,  crumbling  remains  of  the  walls 
of  the  Forum,  covering  about  two  or 
three  acres,  are  all  that  is  left  of  the  cele- 
brated arena  where  Caesar,  Cicero,  and  Cato 
the  Censor,  delivered  their  great  arguments 
on  the  conspiracy  of  Catiline,  as  it  is  re- 
ported by  Sail ust. 

On  the  south,  adjoining  the  Forum,  and 
upon  the  Palatine  Hill,  stand  two  or  three 
stories  of  the  palace  of  that  monster,  Calig- 
ula (the  accent  is  on  the  second  syllable). 
From  recent  reading  about  him  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Suetonius,  I  have  a  great  loathing 
for  him.  He  was  given  that  nickname  from 
the  little  soldier's  boots  he  wore  in  the  army 
when  he  was  a  child,  and  it  stuck  to  him. 


—  59  — 

The  doctor  had  a  headache.  I  ate  some- 
thing outside.  He  said  it  would  be  free  the 
next  day  and  he  would  return,  but  I  was 
there  and  prepared  to  pay  a  franc  and  have 
done  with  it.  Going  up  a  long  ascent,  I 
came  to  the  great  arched  doorway,  and  found 
I  was  followed  by  a  guide,  who  spoke  only 
a  few  words  of  French,  but  was  very  intelli- 
gent. Some  fifty  yards  in, — I  think  I 
would  have  got  lost  in  that  Mammoth- 
Cave-looking  place  if  he  had  not  come,— 
he  showed  me  the  chamber  of  Caligula,  and 
the  place  where  the  bridge  had  been,  con- 
necting the  palace  with  the  F9rum.  Wind- 
ing away  amid  ruins,  we  came  to  the  spot 
in  a  "passage  where  Caligula  was  assassi- 
nated; and  he  showed  me  the  secret  passage- 
way into  the  palace.  Going  around  a  long 
distance  I  found  another  ascent,  and  went 
up  where  there  was  a  deep  basin  thirty  feet 
long,  where  he  said  there  was  a  fish  pond. 
There  I  discovered  a  large  garden  of  two  or 
three  acres  of  cedar,  cotton  wood  and  syca- 


—  60  — 

mores,  30  or  40  feet  high,  which  was 
a  covering  for  the  palace  constructed,  he 
said,  by  Napoleon  III. 

Still  further  from  the  Forum,  by  the  side 
of  this  palace,,  stand  the  ruins  of  the  palace 
of  that  other  monster,  Domitian.  And  these 
two  palaces  are  the  palaces  of  the  Caesars — 
pronounced  here  uChessary.M  Toward  the 
south  end  of  Domitian's  palace  is  the  house 
of  Livia,  that  celebrated  lady  of  whom  Taci- 
tus gives  some  master  strokes  in  his  account 
of  Tiberius.  I  was  in  her  dining  room, 
about  thirty  feet  long.  Many  of  the  paint- 
ings of  fruit^ and  other  figures,  very  deli- 
cate, are  still  visible;  also  in  lier  three  draw- 
ing-rooms, which  were  not  very  large*  Ad- 
joining is  the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter 
Tonans. 

I  got  out,  and  the  doctor,  who  was  to  wait 
for  me  and  go  to  the  baths  of  Carracalla, 
was  gone.  I  wandered  along  a  good  way, 
but  tacked  too  far  to  the  right, — which  Ad- 
miral Tryon  would  have  done  better— 


—  el- 
and finally  I  got  into  a  road  between  two 
walls,  going  up  an  ascent,  the  people  still 
telling  me  to  go  on,  until  I  found  that  I  was 
getting  into  the  country,  clear  out  of  the 
city.  The  working  people  I  met  seemed  to 
know  nothing  of  Mr.  Carracalla  or  his 
baths,  and  I  could  understand  nothing  of 
their  Italian,  and  they  knew  nothing  of 
French  or  Spanish.  I  turned  back  and  got 
into  a  loathsome  road  between  walls,  the 
way  I  thought  I  ought  to  go,  but  I  came  to 
the  end,  which  was  locked.  There  I  knocked 
and  an  old  woman  opened  the  gate,  when  I 
found  I  was  .in  a  cemetery  of  several  acres, 
with  fine  marble  monuments.  I  kept  on  in 
my  course,  but  found  no  way  out,  and  re- 
turned the  way  I  entered;  and  going  around 
some  distance  I  got  started  on  the  shorter 
tack.  After  awhile  I  saw  the  high  walls  of 
the  ruin  to  my  right,  my  road  being  be- 
tween it  and  the  city.  But  I  passed  the  side 
alley  that  led  up  to  the  entrance  of  the  rear 
end,  and  kept  right  along  parallel  to  what 


—  62  — 

was  once  the  front,  with  four  great  doors, 
now  closed,  and  several  acres  there  which 
are  now  cultivated  in  vegetable  gardens.  I 
had  the  doctor's  umbrella,  but  it  was  hot 
and  dusty,  and  now  12  o'clock. 

I  got  into  a  garden  near  the  wall,  and 
was  told  by  a  good  widow,  whose  husband 
died  a  year  ago  and  left  her  with  two  bright 
little  children, — a  boy  and  a  girl, — that  I 
must  go  back  to  the  alleyway  and  go  up  to 
the  end,  but  that  it  would  not  be  open 
until  3  o'clock.  I  don't  like  to  give  up 
things,  so  I  got  a  chair  and  sat  under  a 
ceol  arbor,  with  some  very  thick  foliage  of 
some  vine  or  shrub,  and  dozed  a  little  for 
two  hours.  Then  I  went  to  the  entrance 
and  waited  till  three  o'clock.  One  franc 
was  the  entrance  fee.  The  cicerone  knew 
nothing  but  Italian.  I  suppose  the  place 
is  three  hundred  yards  long  by  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  yards  wide.  The  vast  walls, 
four  or  five  feet  thick,  of  solid  masonry,  go 
up  sixty  or  seventy  feet.  There  yet  exists 


—  63  —  . 

a  considerable  portion  of  the  flooring,  paved 
with  the  then  mosaic  (nothing  like  the  Ve- 
netian) with  small  pieces  of  white  and  col- 
ored marble  in  figures  of  fans  and  serpents. 
In  the  middle,  on  the  front,  is  the  great  cold 
water  bath  of,  say,  sixty  yards  square  and 
five  feet  deep,  for  the  public.  Back  of  this, 
still  in  the  center,  is  a  tepid  bath,  and 
adjoining  on  the  back  of  the  middle,  is  the 
hot  bath,  with  the  furnace  and  all.  In  a 
rear  corner  is  the  bath  of  the  Emperor,  ex- 
clusively reserved,  say  thirty  feet  long;  and 
some  distance,  still  on  the  back,  is  the  bath 
of  his  woman,  or  women — not  to  call  them 
by  a  worse  name,  as  the  guide  did,  which 
made  me  think  of  Solomon  and  the  Bible. 

In  one  great  room,  enormous  chunks  of 
the  walls,  which  had  fallen,  lay  in  heaps; 
but  I  got  out  and  started  back,  and  when 
the  Coliseum  came  in  view,  I  found  that  the 
baths  were  at  least  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
distant  from  it;  though  Mr.  Bennett,  a 
painter,  had  told  me  at  the  Consulate  it 


—  64  — 

was  near  by.  I  had  the  baths  of  Titus  on 
my  list,  bnt  was  told  they  were  not  inter- 
esting. I  had  enongh  of  baths. 

Should  you  ever  come  here  with  your 
mother,  or  any  other  lady,  you  must  take 
a  cab  for  the  day,  for  those  places  are  too 
far  apart,  and  there  seem  to  be  no  conve- 
nient street  cars  in  that  direction.  At  each 
end  of  the  baths  of  Caracalla  there  was  an 
athaneum,  or  place  of  amusement. 

Rome  is  a  cheerful  city;  in  fact,  you  hear 
singing  everywhere  in  Italy.  uVian  means 
road  in  latin,  and  it  may  mean  street  also. 
But  here  a  street  is  uvia;"  in  Germany, 
"strasse,"  and  in  Austria,  ugasse.n  So 
the  second  day  is  finished.  Good-bye. 
Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


—  H5  — 

ROME,  ITALY,  August,  1893. 
William,   My  Son: 

Today  is  Sunday,  but  I  had  lost  my  reck- 
oning and  thought  it  was  Friday,  until 
noon,  when  I  began  to  find  places  of  busi- 
ness closed  and  the  museums  free.  This 
has  not  happened  to  me  for  years  before, 
but  it  comes  from  traveling  in  the  night 
and  being  surrounded  by  an  unfamiliar 
tongue.  If  I  ever  come  here  again  I  intend 
to  know  some  Italian  words.  This  morning 
I  had  taken  black  coffee  in  my  room,  and 
at  nine  o'clock,  near  St.  Peter's,  I  wanted 
some  milk  and  bread.  I  could  not  make 
them  understand  what  milk,  leche,  or  lait 
meant.  At  night,  I  found  it  was  something 
like  latty;  so  I  had  to  go  in  the  kitchen  and 
pick  up  two  eggs,  which  they  fried. 

I  tried  to  get  an  audience  with  the  Pope, 
to  have  your  beads  blessed  for  your  mam- 
ma. I  got  through  the  sentinels  up  to  the 
third  story,  and  was  sent  to  the  master  of 
ceremonies.  But  the  servant  told  me  he 


had  not  cqine  and  that  it  was  Sunday,  any- 
way. I  then  bethought  me  of  the  letter  of 
introduction  you  brought  me  from  the 
Jesuit's  College  to  the  priest  here  at  the 
North  American  College,  which  was  a  long 
way  off;  so  I  took  a  cab.  He  had  just  left 
for  America.  There  was  a  young  man  there 
from  Illinois,  Mr.  McGrath,  studying  for 
the  priesthood.  He  told  me  to  see  the  rec- 
tor, but  he  was  out.  Sol,  in  the  mean- 
time, proposed  to  him  to  see  the  sights  in 
the  cab,  which  offer  he  gladly  accepted,  as 
the  poor  fellow  was  overjoyed  to  talk  in 
English. 

There  are  three  great  obelisks  from  Egypt 
in  Rome,  put  up  by  Pontano  in  1589,  un- 
der Sextus  Quintus.  One  stands  before 
St.  Peter's,  one  in  the  People's  Square,  and 
one  in  front  of  St.  John's  Church,  the  lat- 
ter being  the  tallest.  The  main  street  runs 
from  the  People's  Square  two  miles  through 
the  heart  of  the  city  to  Capitol  Hill.  We 
went  in  a  cab  to  Monte  del  Popolo,  overlook- 


' 

ing  the  People's  Square.  There  is  only 
one  of  the  seven  hills  on  the  west  side  of 
he  Tiber — the  Janiculum.  The  Campus 
Martins  is  there  between  it  and  the  river. 
They  say  the  present  population  of  Rome 
is  450,000.  We  drove  to  the  Capitol.  I 
saw  the  high  gateway  where  Gibbon  was 
inspired  to  write  the  Decline  and  Fall. 
The  Tarpean  Rock  was  there, — not  much 
of  a  precipice !  There  are  two  rather  poor 
museums  at  the  Capitol,  one  of  which  I 
went  into  free,  as  it  was  Sunday.  The 
young  man  pointed  out  the  tower  where 
Nero  is  supposed  to  have  fiddled  while 
Rome  was  burning.  I  was  anxious  to  see 
the  great  statue  of  Pompey;  it  is  a  giant. 
He  stands  naked — his  toga  thrown  grace- 
fully over  his  left  shoulder,  coming  dcwn 
behind,  and  swinging,  over  the  front  of  his 
left  arm.  I  wonder  that  sculptors  do  not 
always  make  statues  exactly  life-size,  like 
St.  Peter  sitting,  a  copy  of  which  we  have 
in  New  Orleans;  and  like  Franklin,  in  La- 


—  68  — 

fayette  Square,  for  then  we  can  tell  the 
size  of  the  man.  But  how  are  we  to  judge 
of  the  size  of  Pompey  from  his  statue?  Or 
of  the  size  of  Henry  Clay,  from  his  great 
statue  in  New  Orleans. 

I  went  back  to  the  College  and  gave  the 
rector  my  letter.  He  said  it  was  hard  to 
see  the  Pope,  and  that  he  is  eighty-four; 
but  he  gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
the  master  of  ceremonies,  recommending 
me  as  a  distinguished  Catholic,  and  I  will 
go  again  tomorrow. 

Mr.  McGrath  then  took  me  to  St.  Peter's 
and  showed  me  through.  All  the  great 
pictures  are  mosaic,  except  one,  which  is  a 
painting.  The  sculpture  of  Canova  and 
Michael  Angelo  is  grand.  There  is  a  love- 
ly dove  over  the  great  altar,  and  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  truly  di- 
vine. As  a  whole,  although  immense,  the 
ensemble  of  the  church  does  not  appear  in- 
conveniently large.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a 
cross.  Yellow  or  gold  predominates  in  the 


—  69  — 

upper  portion,  which  gives  the  church  a 
bright  and  cheerful  appearance.  Some  dis- 
tance, about  one  hundred  yards  in  front  of 
the  church,  there  is  a  depressed  basin  of 
about  six  or  eight  acres;  in  the  center 
stands  the  best  of  the  three  obelisks,  on 
each  side  of  which  is  a  fountain.  There  is 
an  arc  of  a  circle,  containing  in  all  near 
two  hundred  great  pillars  on  the  sides. 

My  landlady  can  scarcely  understand 
anything,  but  at  dinner  .she  made  amends 
by  giving  me  a  delicious  dish  of  macaroni. 
And  they  have  great,  greenish  figs  here 
now,  splendid  to  eat,  and  their  fig  season 
is  four  months,  while  ours  is  only  one. 
The  consul  told  me  that  the  best  species 
come  in  October.  Our  horticulturists  would 
do  well  to  introduce  these  varieties. 

The  streets,  so  far',  on  the  continent,  are 
paved  with  smooth  blocks  of  stone,  about 
five  inches  square,  and  laid  triangularly,  so 
that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  walk  through  them. 

The  rector  at  the  College  offered  to  have 


—  70  — 

*£he    beads  blessed,    if  I  would   leave  them 
with    him,    but  I  told    him    he  might    be 
gone  when  I  got  back  from  Naples;    upon 
which  he  replied  that    I  was  very    skepti- 
cal,   and  wrote    the  letter  of    introduction 
above  referred  to.     So,  good-bye. 
Your   Father, 
W.  W.  HANDUN. 

ROME,  ITALY,  Aug.  28,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  leave  Rome  at  6  a.  m.,  tomorrow,  for 
Naples;  so  we  will  call  this  the  fourth 
and  last  day  in  Rome.  At  8  o'clock  I  went 
to  the  corner  of  II  Corso  Delia  Vita, 
to.  the  banker,  Mr.  Schmitt,  to  get  my 
gold  changed.  For  $20  he  gave  me  no 
lire.  If  I  had  had  a  $20  greenback,  I 
would  have  gotten  112  lire.  For  $10  he 
gave  me  51  francs,  French  money.  I  got 
into  a  low  omnibus,  with  a  cover  and  four 
slat  seats,  cross  ways,  drawn  by  two  horses, 
and  started  for  St.  Peter's,  but  the  driver 


—  71  — 

went  to  the  People's  Square,  and  I  had  to 
wait  and  go  back  with  him  to  the  other  end 
to  take  the  right  car.  The  car  drivers  blow 
a  little  horn  instead  of  a  whistle. 

At  the  Vatican,  I  delivered  my  letter  to 
the  master  of  ceremonies,  who  spoke  French, 
He  was  affable,  but  said  it  was  difficult,  on 
account  of  formalities  and  court  etiquette,  to 
see  the  Pope.  As  to  the  beads,  he  offered 
to  have  them  blessed;  but  I  told  him  I  was 
a  lawyer  and  could  not  give  hearsay  testi- 
mony, and  unless  I  could  see  the  Pope  bless 
the  beads,  I  preferred  to  take  them  along. 
Then  I  spent  two  hours  in  the  Vatican  Gal- 
lery, looking  at  the  paintings.  I  was  so- 
licitous to  see  the  works  of  Raphael.  I  think 
it  was  on  the  third  floor  that  we  came  to 
them.  It  is  almost  impossible,  considering 
the  length  of  time  I  stayed,  to  more  than 
mention  the  names  of  some  of  the  paintings, 
.  mostly  historical,  and  therefore  interesting. 
On  that  floor  there  are  three  rooms  of  great 
paintings  by  Raphael  and  one  of  Giulio  Ro- 


—  72  — 

mano.  By  Raphael  there  is  the  painting  of 
"AttillaMetBy  The  Pope,"  and  his  pro- 
cession of  covered  horses  and  attendants, 
calm  and  imposing.  The  cavalry  of  Attilla 
are  charging  and  rearing.  The  noble  faces 
of  his  war  horses  and  their  riders  with 
clenched  legs,  but  without  saddle  or  bridle, 
accord  with  history.  Then  there  is  "The 
School  of  Athens,"  somewhat  worn  by  time; 
"St.  Peter  in  Prison,"  being  delivered  by 
Angels;  "The  Coronation  of  Charlemagne 
at  Jerusalem;"  " The  Descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;"  "The  Baptism  of  Constantine;" 
"The  Cross  in  The  Heavens,"  as  it  ap- 
peared to  Constantine;  "The  Donation  of 
Rome  to  the  Pope  by  Constantine."  On 
the  floor  adjoining  the  three  of  Raphael  is 
the  "Room  of  Constantine,"  by  Giulio  Ro- 
mano, and  the  last  paintings  mentioned 
above  are  by  him. 

The  greatest  work  of  Raphael,  considered 
the  best  in  the  world,  is  "The  Transfigura- 
tion," on  the  fourth  story.  On  that  story  I 


—  73  — 

had  a  fine  view  from  a  window.  The  Christ 
is  some  ten  feet  from  the  ground  on  the  top 
of  the  hill,  with  arms  and  feet  extended,  and 
floating,  as  it  were,  in  a  cloud  of  lovely 
light.  The  Apostles  are  reclining,  half  ly- 
ing, on  the  ground,  and  looking  upward 
with  confiding  earnestness.  In  a  corner  by 
the  side  of  the  mountain,  and  away  in  the 
distance,  is  a  lovely  valley  with  green  gar- 
dens and  houses.  In  the  group  at  the  foot 
is  the  picture  of  the  Virgin,  which  the  two 
guides  said  was  the  likeness  of  Raphael's 
mistress.  When  I  expressed  surprise,  they 
said  it  was  according  to  the  custom  of 
those  days. 

Going  down,  I  went  into  a  great  Chapel, 
painted  and  frescoed  by  Michael  Angelo,wfor 
he  was  a  great  painter  as  well  as  a  sculptor. 
I  forgot  to  say  that  by  the  side  of  uThe 
Transfiguration"  stands  a  copy  by  a  modern 
artist, — very  good, — but  even  as  poor  a 
judge  as  I  am,  would  say  that  it  does  not 
equal  the  original,  which  is  now  three  hun- 


—  74  — 

dred  years  old,  though  well  preserved.  Also 
near  by  stands  a  Virgin.  She  appeared 
somewhere,  in  some  place.  By  the  way 
I  think  this  thing  of  the  Virgin  is  a 
little  incomprehensible.  She  innst  be  a 
great  traveler.  When  I  was  not  much  older 
than  you  are,  I  stood  in  the  Temple  of  Gua- 
dalupe,  near  Mexico,  within  four  feet  of  the 
Virgin — so  close  that  I  could  see  the  threads 
of  the  canvass.  My  friend,  Don  Miguel 
del  Rio  y  Rio,  had  gone  out  there  with  me 
to  spend  the  Sunday.  Poor  fellow!  I  guess 
he  is  dead  now.  A  Canon  of  the  Church,  a 
friend  of  his,  showed  us  the  Virgin,  and 
dined  us. 

The  legend  is  that  Juan  Diego,  a  poor 
Indian  was  approached  by  the  Virgin,  and 
becoming  frightened,  he  ran  away.  She 
appeared  again,  and  told  him  to  see  the 
Bishop  and  tell  him  to  build  a  church  there. 
But  Juan  said  it  would  be  impossible  for  the 
Bishop  to  believe  a  poor  creature  like  him. 
Thereupon  the  Virgin  of  Guadelupe  threw 


—  75  — 

down  a  mantle  full  of  flowers  and  her  image 
was  stamped  upon  the  mantle.  As  it  was 
winter,  and  no  time  for  flowers  to  grow,  the 
Bishop  knew  it  was  the  Virgin,  and  so  the 
church  was  built. 

I  find  the  Italians  here  a  well  informed,, 
intelligent  race.  They  are  not  so  dark  as 
those  in  New  Orleans,  possibly  because  they 
are  of  a  better  class.  But  I  am  much  dis- 
appointed at  not  meeting  more  Americans. 
There  are  two  causes  which  probably  keep 
them  away  this  year — the  Chicago  Exposi- 
tion and  the  cholera. 

I  may  write  you  from  Naples,  and  I  hope 
to  hear  from  you  when  I  get  to  Paris.  It  is 
possible  I  will  go  by  Aix  Les  Bains  and 
Vichy,  as  they  are  not  far  off  the  road.  I 
suppose  I  shall  have  a  long  road  from  Na- 
ples to  Florence.  I  hope  the  account  of 
things  here  will  interest  you. 

Thus,  my  son,  have  we  traced  together 
some  of  the  lost  grandeur  of  Imperial 
Rome.  You  are  in  the  third  year  of  your 


—  76  — 

classical  course.  Study  her  history.  Study 
her  poets  and  orators.  Read  every  line  of 
Caesar's  Commentaries  and  the  u  Belli  Civili 
Romanorurn,"  in  the  Latin  tongue — as  I 
have  done  not  long  since.  Truly,  as  Bacon 
says,  the  things  that  Caesar  and  Alexander 
actually  did  accomplish,  far  surpass  the  im- 
aginary exploits  of  Amadis  de  Gaul. 

The  Roman  people  are  an  etenial  exam- 
ple to  the  youth  of  after  ages  of  what  may 
be  accomplished  by  human  energy,  and  the 
civilization  to  which  they  attained  is  won- 
derful indeed,  when  we  consider  the 
slow  methods  then  in  use.  With  our  steam 
and  electricity  of  the  present  day,  what 
more  might  not  Caesar  have  done?  But  it 
is  possible  to  give  energy  another  direction, 
and  good  men  now  hope  that  war,  with  its 
horrors,  may  be  finally  abolished.  Those 
old  Romans  were  no  sluggards.  But  in 
that  age  war  was  necessary,  and  the  art  of 
war  was  advanced  by  them  to  the  greatest 
stage  of  perfection  then  known.  Good-bye. 
Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


—  77  — 

NAPLES,  ITALY,  Aug.  28,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  left  Rome  yesterday  morning  and 
reached  Naples  last  night.  On  leaving  the 
city,  I  noticed  old  walls  and  acquedticts 
with  gaps  of  a  hundred  yards.  There  was 
no  deserted  Campagna  on  that  side,  either. 
On  the  contrary,  there  were  fields  of  solid 
vines,  six  feet  high,  and  in  a  very  good 
state  of  cultivation,  for  miles  from  the  city. 
Some  distance  from  the  railroad  I  saw  some 
worn  spaces,  but  nothing  like  the  accounts 
I  had  read  of  the  desolation  of  the  Roman 
Campagna.  However,  a  gentleman  speak- 
ing some  French,  told  me  that  on  the  south 
side  of  Rome,  toward  the  sea,  several  miles 
of  land  are  abandoned.  I  asked  him  if  it 
was  not  susceptible  of  cultivation.  He  said 
yes,  but  the  air  is  bad. 

Low  mountains  lay  off  to  the  left.  Be- 
tween thirty  and  forty  miles  out,  we  struck 
the  hills  on  both  sides,  and  went  through 
three  tunnels, — one  a  long  one.  Then  we 


—  78  — 

got  into  a  gorge,  and  tlie  nubbins  of  Indian 
corn  in  every  little  strip  stuck  their  little 
heads  up,  the  tops  having  been  cut  off  for 
fodder.  After  a  while  we  got  into  a  wide 
valley  and  a  very  pretty,  fertile  country, 
which  continued  all  the  way;  and  a  while 
before  we  got  to  the  city  the  valley  widened 
out  and  became  very  extensive.  There  are 
plenty  of  apple  trees,  full  of  apples,  the 
same  product  I  have  noticed  before.  The 
green  looking  figs  I  mentioned  before  are 
called  sugar  figs.  It  is  a  great  country  for 
figs.  No  wonder  Horace  wrote  poetry  about 
what  a  fig  tree  did  and  said. 

We  passed  several  cities,  one  of  which  is 
Capua,  on  the  river  Volturno.-  On  ap- 
proaching, I  noticed  a  high  hill  and  fortress 
in  the  city, — something  like  the  one  in 
Quebec,  which  hangs  over  the  St.  Lawrence. 
The  city  goes  down  to  the  water  of  the  bay, 
like  Venice;  but  it  is  not  so  clean,  and 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  bustle  of  vehicles 
and  people.  Being  late  in  the  evening,  I 


was  unable  to  tell  whether  the  smoky  ap- 
pearance was  caused  by  Mt.  Vesuvius  or 
not.  The  houses  are  high  here,  and  they 
say  the  population  is  over  half  a  million.  I 
did  not  see  the  Via  Appia  at  Rome,  and 
was  told  it  was  some  distance  out.  Probably 
Mr.  Washington  saw  it  on  his  way  here  in 
a  stage,  for  I  do  not  think  the  railroad 
was  built  when  he  traveled. 

When  I  got  up  this  morning  I  found  the 
mountain  on  which  I  saw  the  smoke  last 
night  is  Vesuvius.  It  is  not  much  of  a 
mountain,  only  two  thousand  feet  high, 
and  not  to  be  compared  to  the  Orizaba  or 
Popocatapetl.  It  was  raining  a  little,  which 
was  the  first  rain  I  saw  in  Europe,  except 
a  small  shower  as  Mr.  McGrath  and  I  came 
out  of  St.  Peter's  in  Rome. 

The  first  funny  thing  I  saw  was  a  man 
with  a  Jersey  cow,  ringing  a  bell  for  people 
to  come  and  get  milk.  I  stopped  and  saw 
one  vessel  filled.  It  would  be  a  good  cus- 


—  80  — 

torn  in  New  Orleans.  Then  we  would  not 
buy  so  much  water. 

I  found  many  gentlemen  on  the  streets 
who  understood  French,  and  they  were  very 
kind  in  showing  me  places  and  giving  me 
directions.  One  of  them  told  me  there 
were  two  thousand  lawyers  in  Naples. 

The  principal  newspaper  has  its  office  at 
one  end  of  the  city  and  is  printed  at  the 
other,  which  I  found  to  my  cost. 

On  leaving  Rome  I  was  a  good  deal  wor- 
ried because  I  had  not  heard  from  the  Con- 
sul here.  Now  when  a  man  neglects  to  an- 
swer an  important  and  respectful  letter,  he 
is  behind  the  age  and  is  lacking  in  the  cour- 
tesy of  a  gentleman.  For  over  a  quarter  of 
a  century  I  have  had  prompt  and  respectful 
answers  from  the  departments  at  Washing- 
ton. With  a  few  exceptions,  our  senators 
and  representatives  have  always  answered 
my  letters.  Yea,  I  have  received  letters 
from  some  of  the  Presidents.  But  nry  wrath 
was  mollified  when  I  arrived  at  the  Con- 


—  81  — 

sulate,  for  that  gentleman  had  written  the 
day  before  I  left  Rome,  and  the  letter  had 
not  been  received  by  me,  and  he  was  so 
courteous  in  giving  me  introductions  and 
one  important  letter,  that  I  found  my  irri- 
tation arose  more  from  my  own  haste  than 
from  his  slowness. 

In  the  afternoon  I  came  down  17  miles  to 
Sorrento,  a  resort  which  is  to  Naples  what 
I  Long  Branch  is  to  New  York;  and  it  is  on 
a  mountain  over  the  sea,  whence  this  letter 
is  posted.  I  am  tired  from  climbing  up 
the  steps. 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


NAPLES,  ITALY,  Sep.  5,  1893. 

• 

\William,  My  Son: 

I  stayed  some  time  at  Sorrento,  down  the 
Bay.  It  is  a  summer  resort  for  the  people 
D'f  Naples,  and  I  had  some  difficulty  in 


—  82  — 

getting  a  room,  and  went  to  three  houses 
before  I  succeeded. 

The  business  of  the  place  is  packing  and 
shipping  fruit,  and  the  town  is  built  on  a 
long  narrow  strip  of  land  under  the  moun- 
tains and  away  above  the  sea.  Such  or- 
chards and  fertile  fruit  gardens  I  never 
saw.  Great  high  olive  trees  are  loaded 
with  berries.  The  vines  are  full  of  grapes, 
and  swing  from  trees  and  stakes  high  above 
the  solid  walls  of  stone  masonry.  Walnut 
trees,  peach  trees,  pear  trees,  and  all  other 
fruit  trees  of  the  country  are  covered  with 
luscious  fruit. 

The  people  close  up  all  places  of  business 
from  noon  till  three  and  go  to  bed.  The 
harbor  here  is  the  most  beautiful  I  have 
seen,  except  Acapulco.  As  I  go,  I  am 
picking  up  a  good  many  Italian  words  and 
setting  them  down  on  paper,  and  before  I 
am  done  with  Italy  I  shall  have  quite  a 
little  vocabulary. 

As    I  said,    there  are  a    great  number  of 


-  83  — 

lawyers  here.  I  meet  them  everywhere. 
They  all  speak  French  and  look  like  gen- 
tlemen. At  Sorrento,  they  kept  placing  a 
bottle  of  wine  before  me  until  I  was  over- 
come, and  commenced  taking  a  small  glass 
pure  and  coloring  my  glass  of  water,  as  I 
sometimes  do  at  home.  "Home"  makes  me 
"  feel  like  getting  back,  and  I  sometimes  feel 
lonesome,  as  I  often  did  when  a  boy  by 
myself  in  Mexico, — being  surrounded  by  a 
strange  race  and  friendless.  I  have  110  ac- 
quaintances but  the  stars.  As  I  stood  on 
the  high  balcony  of  my  room  and  looked 
across  the  Bay  of  Naples  toward  the  north- 
ern heavens,  and  gazed  for  hours  at  the 
Polar  Star,  Ursa  Major,  Regulus  Vega  and 
Cappella,  I  recognized  old  and  familiar  ac- 
quaintantes  there,  and  felt  that  I  still  be- 
longed to  earth. 

In  Sorrento  there  are  a  great  many  fine 
hotels  and  aristocratic  private  residences 
and  gardens.  On  one  side  of  the  Central 
Square  there  is  a  small  fruit  market,  and 


—  84  — 

on  another  a  large  reading  room  and  a  bil- 
liard establishment  with  a  town  clock 
above,  which  form  the  headquarters  of 
the  place;  and  in  front  there  is  a  music 
stand  under  shade  trees  where  a  band  plays 
operatic  pieces  of  evenings  for  three  or  four 
summer  months,  at  an  expense  to  the  mu- 
nicipality of  four  thousand  francs. 

On  that  plaza  stand  fine  statues  of  the  poet, 
Torquato  Tasso,  and  St.  Anthony,  the  pro- 
tector of  the  town.  I  have  got  so  I  can  read 
dispatches  in  the  Italian  papers  from  Lon- 
don and  America  about  the  home  rule  bill, 
the  railroad  collisions  and  the  cyclones. 
And  that  makes  me  think  of  those  old-time 
people  who  looked  in  security  from  the 
high  shore  upon  the  storms  and  shipwrecks 
of  the  ocean.  By  the  way  there  was  a  prec- 
ipice of  one  or  two  hundred  feet  under  my 
room  down  toward  the  bay. 

I  heard  only  one  mosquito  sing  in  Sor- 
rento. They  say  that  a  great  many 
Americans  visit  this  place  in  the  winter 


—  85  — 

and    spring;    but  I    saw  only  one — a    lady 
from  New  York. 

This  morning  I  came  over  to  Naples  and 
after  visiting  the  U.  S.  Consul  and  getting 
some  newspapers,  I  started  to  see  the  town, 
and  bought  an  Italian  book  without  a  master. 
From  the  apparent  size  of  Naples,  I  doubted 
if  it  had  as  large  a  population  as  they  pretend; 
but  on  entering  the  Via  Roma,  a  principal 
street,  the  people  were  so  thick  that  it  was 
difficult  to  pass.  I  kept  going,  inquiring 
for  the  National  Museum  and  Picture  Gal- 
lery, which  they  said  was  not  far,  but  I 
found  it  about  a  mile.  So  I  paid  a  franc 
and  went  in,  and  the  way  the  stairs  are 
arranged,  I  soon  found  myself  on  the  third 
and  top  floor,  where  the  paintings  are. 
They  are  all  uon  the  make,"  and  I  was 
soon  surrounded  by  two  or  three  guides. 
En  other  places,  the  name  of  the  painter  is 
it  the  bottom,  \vith  other  information,  but 
:here,  there  is  a  book  by  the  door  with  the 
numbers  of  the  paintings,  and  they  expected 


—  86  — 

you  to  go  to  reading  a  big  book  for  two 
francs  or  hire  a  guide.  I  was  not  inter- 
ested in  paintings.  After  Raphael  and 
the  Vatican,  one  gets  hard  to  please.  But 
I  came  to  four  fine  rooms  with  a  hundred 
glass  cases  of  Roman  and  Grecian  coins, — 
gold,  silver  and  copper,  the  latter  predom- 
inating. The  money  of  the  Roman  Repub- 
lic and  that  of  the  Empire,  with  the  heads 
of  the  Emperors,  was  curious  and  interest- 
ing. There  were  great  rooms  of  ancient 
pottery  of  all  kinds.  I  then  went  down  to 
the  second  and  ground  floors,  and  found 
the  best  collection  of  statues  of  any  I  have 
yet  seen;  in  one  room  I  was  told  the  stat- 
ues of  Augustus,  Tiberius,  Nero,  Trajan, 
Titus,  Vespasian  and  others  had  been  found 
in  the  baths  of  Caracalla  and  brought  to 
Naples.  One  room  contained  statues  of 
all  the  Muses  and  the  Four  Seasons.  m 
group  of  statues  of  Dy ing  t Gladiators  and 
an  Amazon  is  interesting.  Enormous  mar- 
ble heads  of  Vespasian,  and  other  Emper- 


—  87  — 

ors,  are  there.  Cicero's  statue,  apparently 
life-size — as  they  said  it  was — is  doubtless 
a  true  representation  of  the  man;  the  fea- 
tures are  regular,  and  the  nose  long  and 
somewhat  curved,  the  forehead  rather  long 
but  rather  retreating,  and  the  ensemble  cal- 
culated to  please.  He  was  six  feet,  two 
inches  high,  or  thereabouts.  There  is  a 
great  head  of  Caesar,  with  a  life-size  statue, 
the  features  of  which  correspond  with  en- 
gravings which  I  have;  except  the  nose  is 
/not  curved,  but  rather  long  and  straight. 
There  must  be  something  in  what  phrenolo- 
gists say,  for  his  head  is  massive  and  thick 
from  ear  to  ear,  indicating  combativeness. 
Good-bye. 

Your  Father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


NAPLES,  ITALY,  Sep.  6,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

In  my  last,  I  forgot  to  say  that  from  the 
apparently  life-size  statue  of  Caesar  in  Na- 
ples he  must  have  been  six  feet  and  three  or 
fonr  inches  high;  and,  according  to  Napole- 
on Third's  life  of  him,  his  eyes  were  dark. 
Alexander  the  Great  was  also  tall,  and,  ac- 
cording to  Plutarch,  he  was  light  of  com- 
plexion; and  his  perspiration  was  slightly 
perfumed,  as  is  often  the  case  with  red- 
dish men. 

Well,  I  have  seen  Pompeii !  It  took  an 
hour  to  go,  and  cost  a  franc.  The  railroad 
goes  along  the  Bay  and  around  Vesuvius. 
Pompeii  is  three  or  four  miles  inland  now, 
but  the  Bay  extended  to  it  once,  and  the 
fastenings  for  vessels  are  still  there.  The 
land  is  raised,  or  the  sea  fallen.  The  city 
stands  on  the  southeast  side  of  Vesuvius,  and 
is  a  hundred  feet  or  so  above  sea  level .  The 
entrance  fee  is  two  lires  (francs) ,  and  when  I 
found  that  covered  the  services  of  the  guide 


—  89  — 

who  was  following  me,  I  allowed  him  to  go 
along,  and  should  not  have  known  much 
without  him. 

Shall  I  write  you  what  I  saw  in  Pom- 
peii? Am  I  equal  to  the  task?  Shade  of 
Caesar,  help  my  descriptive  powers  !  "Gal- 
lia  est  divisa  in  partes  tres"  is  invoked.  I 
walked  around  two  hours,  made  a  table  on 
the  shoulder  of  the  guide,  and  took  some 
notes  with  my  pencil  on  the  margin  of  a 
newspaper. 

At  the  top  of  the  long  ascent,  under  a 
great  arch,  there  stands  on  the  right  a  small 
museum,  of  probably  one  hundred  feet  in 
length,  with  the  end  toward  the  way.  There 
are  glass  cases  in  the  middle,  covering  twen- 
ty or  thirty  petrified  bodies  of  people  who 
were  covered  by  the  boiling  water  and  ashes 
of  the  volcano.  On  the  sides,  there  are  large 
vessels  of  pottery  for  wine,  and  all  kinds  of 
lamps  and  ancient  vessels,  locks  of  doors, 
i  fruit,  nuts,  cloth  for  clothing,  and  other 
things.  There  are  skeletons  of  horses,  and 


a  dog  with  a  collar  on.  There  were  sandals 
on  the  feet  of  the  people,  and  a  ring  on  a 
lady's  finger. 

Pompeii  was  bnilt  on  lava  in  the  first 
place.  There  were  two  eruptions.  The 
first  only  damaged  the  city,  but  the  second 
submerged  it.  Most  of  the  houses  were  one 
or  two  stories  high, — at  least,  if  they  were 
more,  they  have  crumbled  away.  A  few  of 
the  streets  are  of  good  size,  but  the  most  of 
them  are  narrow,  only  admitting  of  one 
cart,  the  tracks  of  which  are  seen  deep  in 
the  stone.  Only  about  half  of  the  city  has 
been  excavated,  but  it  is  the  principal  part. 
There  are  ranges  of  restaurants  and  kitch- 
ens. Many  of  the  paintings  on  the  walls 
of  the  Pantheon  are  well  'preserved  and 
beautiful.  Some  of  them  are:  "Eulyses 
and  Penelope,"  "A  Priest,"  " Theseus  and 
Adriana,"  "A  Ship  with  Galley  Slaves 
Rowing  It,"  UA  Woman  in  the  Act  of 
Painting,"  " Victory — Her  Chariot  Drawn 
by  Two  Horses."  And  then,  great  strings 


-  91  - 

of  fish.     One    rather  small    residence  is  re- 
markable for  its  taste:      A  great  bear  dying, 
iin  mosaic  on  the  floor  at  the  entrance,    lies  , 
snear    the  word   "Have,"    which  the    guide 
said  meant  Welcome.     There  was    also    in 
Ithat  house  a  gorgeous  fountain   with    many 
;  figures,    including    Mars    and  Venus.     He 
showed    me  a   number  of   public    fountains. 
The  first  was  that  of  Ceres,   the  Goddess  of 
Abundance.     On    the  marble    I   saw  it  was 
worn  down  by  the  right  hands  of  people  who 
stooped  down    to  drink.      Another    fountain 
is  that  of  Minerva. 

The  large  and  the  small  theatres  have 
seats  and  an  arched  corridor  h-igh  in  the 
rear,  very  much  as  we  have  them  now.  The 
pillars  of  a  large  barrack  for  soldiers  are 
still  standing.  He  showed  me  a  large  and 
sumptuous  house  of  the  Consul,  with  paint- 
ings on  the  walls  of  the  dining  room  and 
parlors.  There  was  a  drug  store  with  a 
curious  sign.  Nearby  was  a  house  of  luxury 
with  pictures  on  the  walls  which  I  may 
not  name. 


—  92  — 

The  public  bath  house  of  cold  and  hot 
baths  is  small  but  very  elegant,  the  dress- 
ing-room of  which  is  ornamented  with  many 
figures.  Then  came  the  chambers  of  the 
Court  of  Justice,  the  Forum,  and  the  Senate 
Chamber.  There  are  a  number  of  Tem- 
ples— which  we  now  call  churches.  The 
Temple  of  Apollo  is  the  greatest.  A  beau- 
tiful marble  altar  in  the  Temple  of  Mercury 
is  perfect;  it  stands  on  a  slab  six  inches 
thick  and  five  feet  high,  by  four  feet  in  front 
and  four  feet  back.  The  front  has  beauti- 
fully carved  figures  of  a  great  bull  ready  for 
sacrifice,  and  the  priestesses  who  stand 
around.  There  is  also  a  Temple  to  Isis  and 
one  to  Jupiter.  The  Central  Square  has 
pedestals  for  statues,  and  one  is  for  a  statue 
of  Sallust,  as  appears  from  the  inscription. 
Then,  there  is  the  commercial  exchange, 
butcher  shops,  bakeries,  and  immense  ves- 
sels of  pottery  for  wine.  Good-bye. 
Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDUN. 


—  93  - 

NAPLES,  ITALY,  Sep.  10,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  forgot  to  say  that  in  Pompeii  I  saw  the 
ruins  of  a  temple  to  the  goddess  Fortune, 
and  that  Byron  wrote  that  he  believed  in 
her  divinity.  Hence  is  explained  that  say- 
ing of  Caesar  to  the  mariner:  "Caesarem 
et  fortunam  ejus  portas." 

I  am  doing  nothing  here  now,  and  you 
may  have  come  across  that  Italian  quotation 
in  books,  "dolce  far  niente''^  But  it  is  not 
agreeable  for  me  to  do  nothing,  so  I  am  down 
deep  in  the  Italian  newspapers  and  the 
Italian  self-taught  book. 

To-day  I  went  to  the  Vesuvius,  a  fine  ho- 
tel here,  in  the  hope  of  finding  some  Eng- 
lish-speaking people,  but  there  was  only  one 
and  he  was  out. 

There  are  different  kinds  of  the  lame, 
blind,  and  halt.  If  you  are  acquainted  with 
a  lame  man,  you  know  him  by  the  peculi- 
arity of  his  halt  without  seeing  his  face.  In 
the  same  manner  I  recognize  a  man  in  New 


94  — 

Orleans  by  his  peculiar  bald  head,  wherever 
I  see  it.  But  today  I  saw  a  singular  halt. 
An  old  Friar  was  walking  in  the  middle  of 
the  street,  and  kept  one  foot  always  before 
the  other. 

A  policeman  told  me  their  pay  was  seven- 
ty-five francs  per  month,  but  his  uniform 
was  so  handsome  I  took  him  for  an  army 
officer. 

In  the  great  People's  Square  in  Naples  is 
a  fountain  forty  or  fifty  feet  high.  The 
sides  of  the  square  are  illuminated  at  night 
and  it  is  filled  with  people.  Here,  also,  the 
city  supports  a  band  of  music.  It  seems  to 
me  that  a  city  as  great  as  New  Orleans,  for 
the  sake  of  life  and  gayety,  might  have 
something  of  the  sort  two  or  three  evenings 
in  tjie  week,  during  the  hot  season.  Music 
speaks  the  same  language  for  all. 

The  Prince  of  Naples,  son  of  Humbert, 
now  twenty-four  years  old  and  unmarried, 
resides  in  the  royal  palace  here  which  faces 
on  the  people's  square.  At  present  he  is  in 


—  95  - 

Germany  attending  the  military  parades  and 
a  great  discussion  is  going  on  in  the  news- 
papers as  to  the  propriety  of  the  statesman- 
ship permitting  such  a  visit,  so  closely  is 
royalty  hedged  in  by  etiquette.  At  the 
house  where  I  stay  is  a  widow  with  a  hand- 
some daughter  who  lost  her  husband  a  few 
years  ago  by  the  earthquake  on  the  island 
of  Ischia,  near  here.  I  have  been  wonder- 
ing why  they  drive  so  many  goats,  but  I 
have  just  discovered  that  they  sell  the  fresh 
milk  from  the  goats  as  well  as  the  cows. 

Last  night  I  was  down  at  the  quay  in  a 
very  high  house  and  I  had  an  unobstructed 
view  of  Vesuvius  at  night.  In  the  new 
crater,  some  three  years  old,  which  is  down 
a  little  to  the  left,  there  is  a  patch  of  fire  of 
bright  live  coals. 

To-day  I  went  with  a  friend  to  San  Mar- 
tino,  a  museum  above  Naples.  The  part 
which  has  the  paintings  was  closed  for  re- 
pairs and  the  rest  was  not  interesting  except 
a  monk  in  wax,  sitting  in  a  room,  which 


—  96  — 

looked  so  natural  I  thought  he  was  alive. 
We  went  out  on  a  gallery  and  saw  the  whole 
of  Naples  and  its  surroundings.  Away  on 
the  right  stands  Monte  Nuovo,  a  volcano, 
and  on  the  left  Vesuvius.  In  the  distance 
in  front  is  the  island  of  Capri  (goat  island) , 
the  place  where  the  Emperor  Tiberius  led 
such  a  disgraceful  life,  according  to  Sueto- 
nius, but  the  editor  in  a  note  pronounces  it 
a  libel. 

From  there  we  visited  the  great  royal 
palace,  but  I  am  too  tired  now  to  write  what 
I  saw  there.  Maybe  hereafter  I  may  do  so. 
To-night  at  12:40  I  commence  my  long 
ride  to  Paris.  It  is  too  late  now  to  stop  at 
Vichy,  as  I  thought  of  doing,  but  perhaps 
next  year  I  may  have  that  pleasure. 
Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDUN. 


—  97  — 

PARIS,  FRANCE,  Sept.  13,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

After  three  nights  on  the  cars  I  am  in 
Paris.  Approaching  down  the  Seine,  we 
passed  Fontainebleau,  the  celebrated  forest, 
which  I  noticed  for  several  miles  on  each 
side  of  the  road.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  a  New  Orleanean  is  at  home  in  Paris, 
familiar  as  we  are  with  the  customs  of  the 
mercurial  French,  and  you  can  say  that  you 
are  half  a  Frenchman  by  descent,  but  not  I. 
After  the  worry  of  a  long  stay  in  Naples, 
the  hurry  and  scurry  of  the  trip,  the  hope 
of  rejoining  you  all  soon  has  somewhat  re- 
vived me  and  I  must  confess  railroad  travel 
has  great  attraction  for  me. 

I  nearly  lost  my  head  at   Modane  on  ac- 
count of  the  massacre  of  some  Italian  labor- 
ers by  the  French;   there  is  an  ill  feeling 
.  between  the  two  countries  and  I  could  not  , 
:  get  a  through  ticket  to  Paris,  but  only  to 
Modane.     There  the  train  stopped  only  a 
few  minutes,  and  I  had  to  get  my  baggage 


examined  by  officers  of  the  customs,  to  buy 
my  ticket  and  get  some  Italian  money 
changed.  They  would  not  take  the  Italian 
money  in  part  payment  for  the  ticket  and  I 
had  to  use  some  French  gold  I  got  in 
Naples.  When  I  got  in  the  cars  I  laid  my 
pocket  book  down  on  my  seat  to  look  over 
my  things.  All  at  once  I  thought  I  had 
lost  it  and  was  about  to  tear  off  to  the  ticket 
office  when  luckily  I  discovered  it  on  the 
seat.  The  sack  of  a  traveler  and  his  pocket 
book  are  next  to  his  life,  and  I  never  sepa- 
rate from  them  en  route. 

There  was  nothing  very  remarkable  to  be 
observed  on  the  journey.  After  leaving 
Rome  for  some  distance  the  Mediterranean 
was  in  view  and  we  could  see  vessels  sailing 
in  the  distance.  There  were  many  old 
castles  on  high  peaks.  On  approaching  the 
Alps,  it  was  raining.  We  passed  through 
a  number  of  tunnels,  which  we  generally 
struck  just  as  I  commenced  to  read.  In- 
deed, we  seemed  to  be  going  through  tun- 


-  99  — 

nels  half  the  time  the  last  day,  and  it  ap- 
peared to  take  nearly  an  hour  to  go  through 
the  great  tunnel  near  Modane. 

I  am  getting  along  pretty  well  with  Ital- 
ian. I  have  bought  an  Italian  novel  to  read 
while  crossing  the  ocean. 

There  was  a  museum  in  Naples  which  I 
did  not  visit,  called  Capo  di  Monte,  because 
I  had  failed  to  get  a  permit.  On  account 
of  a  statue  of  Hercules  drunk,  mentioned 
by  Howells  in  his  Italian  Journeys,  I  would 
have  liked  to  have  gone  there.  On  the 
route  we  crossed  the  river  Po  in  Italy,  and 
near  Aix  les  Bains  the  Rhone. 

I  had  another  row  with  the  railroad  con- 
ductors about  overcharge,  for  there  is  noth- 
ing I  dislike  more  than  unjust  and  oppress- 
ive exactions,  and  as  I  had  a  through  ticket 
I  refused  to  pay  extras.  They  took  me 
before  a  fellow  that  I  took  to  be  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  He  said  he  thought  I  was  accus- 
tomed to  such  things,  which  I  fear  had  some 
truth  in  it,  for  there  is  an  unenviable  pleas- 


—  100  — 

ure  in  a  dispute,  especially  if  you  get  the 
better  of  it,  as  I  did. 

They  wanted  to  know  who  I  was  and 
where  I  came  from;  if  I  was  a  uvagamundo,n 
and  they  commenced  to  go  into  my  carpet 
sack  to  look  for  my  passport,  but  when  I 
objedted  and  said  I  should  have  to  see  my 
consul  to  know  if  they  had  that  right,  and 
that  no  passport  had  been  asked  in  Italy  or 
Germany,  they  desisted,  and  after  two  hours 
they  let  me  go  scot  free.  I  had  just  that 
much  time  to  lose. 

Well,  I  promised  to  say  something  about 
the  royal  palace  of  Naples.  It  is  probably 
the  most  gorgeous  in  the  world.  It  is  likely 
that  the  old  Bourbon  kings  left  it  just  as  it 
is.  Imagine  two  large  city  squares  built 
up  solid  except  an  interior  courtyard.  With- 
out a  guide  you  would  probably  get  lost 
after  you  once  get  in.  The  throne  is  a  great 
chair  with  the  back,  arms  and  sides  of  gold, 
a  lion's  head  on  each  arm  of  gold  and  the 
seat  and  center  of  the  back  red  or  purple. 


—  101  — 

It  is  set  upon  a  low  dais  in  a  large  room. 
There  is  a  large  church  and  a  theater,  all 
upon  the  upper  floor.  The  floors  are  mag- 
nificent. In  the  ceiling  of  the  church  there 
is  a  fresco  by  Morelli.  I  can  only  mention 
some  of  the  paintings  and  the  names  of 
some  of  the  painters.  One  was  Jesus  with 
the  doctors.  Ingratius  made  a  Bishop,  by 
Stanzioni;  Lot  and  Family,  the  Great 
Coligny  Family,  the  Murderers  at  the  Mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew;  Orpheus  Charm- 
ing the  People  and  the  Beasts,  by  Vaccaro; 
Rachel  and  Jacob,  very  lovely,  by  the  same; 
Cain  Slaying  his  Brother,  by  de  Vivo; 
Magdalene,  by  Titian.  Then  there  are  two 
great  dining  rooms,  vast  marble  galleries 
for  dancing  and  an  immense  ball  room. 
The  main  double  stairway  of  low  marble 

!  steps,  as  viewed   from   the   gallery  above, 

i baffles  description. 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN, 


—  102  — 

PARIS,  FRANCE,  Sept.  15,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  was  sick  and  tired  of  riding  in  the  car?, 
and  the  second  morning  of  my  arrival,  I 
went  all  over  Paris  on  foot.  I  had  a  good 
view  from  the  tower  of  the  Bastile.  *  I  started 
in  the  Boulevards,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
city,  at  the  monument  of  the  Bastile,  and 
went  along  on  the  right  side  of  the  Seine, 
coming  out  at  the  door  of  the  Church  Mag- 
dalen at  the  other  end  of  the  city.  It  took 
me  a  full  hour,  and  you  know  I  am  a  good 
walker.  The  boulevards  curve  around  sev- 
eral squares  distant  with  the  river,  as  it 
were  on  the  back  of  the  Seine.  Speaking 
of  the  Seine  reminds  me  of  La  Vieille  Tour 
de  Nesle,  by  Alexander  Dumas  Pere.  .You 
know  there  was  an  Alexander  Dumas  Fils, 
who  has  surpassed  his  father  in  the  drama 
but  not  in  romance.  It  was  9  o'clock 
Thursday  wheu  I  got  to  the  Magdalen,  and 
mass  was  going  on.  It  was  the  first  church 
music  I  had  heard  since  I  left  home.  It  is 


—  103  — 

a  long  parallelogram  of  massive  structure 
and  surrounded  by  high  pillars.  The 
marble  floor  is  fifteen  feet  from  the  ground 
with  two  flights  of  steps  up  to  the  door. 
After  kneeling  and  giving  thanks  for  divine 
protection  and  blessings  and  after  the  bene- 
diction, I  started  for  the  consulate  to  find 
out  why  I  had  gotten  no  letters. 

I  passed  through  the  large  Place  de  la 
Concorde,  around  which  were  sitting  statues 
on  heavy  pedestals  and  in  the  centre  of 
which  there  is  a  great  Egyptian  obelisk.  I 
saw  Joan  of  Arc  on  horseback  crossing  the 
Seine,  I  was  near  the  Eiffel  tower.  I  passed 
through  the  great  square  near  the  Hotel 
des  Invalides,  which  is  the  home  of  old  sol- 
diers. I  fell  in  with  a  lively  young  soldier, 
twenty-three  years  old,  who  had  served  two 
years  and  had  one  more  to  serve.  We  re- 
crossed  the  Seine  and  passed  near  the  col- 
umn of  Vendome.  He  told  me  their  pay 
was  one  sous  a  day  and  that  they  were  paid 
every  five  days.  I  told  him  I  would  give 


—  104  — 

him  a  couple  of  sous,  which  would  be  two 
days  pay,  but  he  did  not  accept.  Good 
manners! 

We  passed  through  the  great  square  of  the 
Tuilleries,  which  is  full  of  forest  trees.  In 
one  corner  I  suppose  there  are  a  thousand 
chairs,  where  the  people  go  twice  a  week  to 
hear  music.  The  Louvre  is  just  back  of  the 
palace  of  the  Tuilleries.  There  is  a  statue 
and  monument  to  Gambetta  there.  At  the 
door  of  the  Louvre  he  left  me. 

Shall  I  try  to  tell  you  about  the  Louvre 
1  and  the  galleries  of  the  Louvre?  It  is  too 
vast  a  task.  It  is  interminable.  The  base- 
ment is  occupied  by  statuary,  Romans 
clothed,  Jupiter,  Assyrian  idols  of  vast  size. 
On  the  upper  floor  are  the  paintings.  There 
are  the  French,  Italian  and  Flemish  schools. 
The  first  are  French,  and  they  are  grand 
paintings  indeed.  There  is  a  gorgeous 
portrait  of  Louis  XIV  by  Regand;  Hunting 
the  Wild  Boar,  by  Lebrun;  Lazarus  Res- 
urrected; many  pictures  by  Van  Dyke, 


—  105  — 

especially  a  noble  portrait  of  Charles  the 
First  of  England,  that  unfortunate  king; 
Vulcan  presenting  the  arms  of  ^Bneas  to 
Venus,  his  mother;  Henry  III  conferring  a 
decoration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  Van  Loo; 
a  beautiful  picture  of  St.  Paul,  by  Ferrani; 
Brutus  condemning  his  sons  to  death  for 
having  gone 'into  battle  without  orders,  by 
Lathiere;  the  three  Horatii  receiving  their 
swords  from  their  father;  the  Sabine  women 
with  their  infants  stopping  the  conflict  be- 
tween their  kinsmen  and  their  husbands; 
Madame  Recamier  on  a  sofa  and  many  other 
paintings,  by  David.  I  thought  the  French 
school  was  the  best,  but  when  I  came  to 
Rubens  I  was  captivated.  What  lovely  art! 
Think  of  those  living  pictures  after  several 
hundred  years  beaming  down  on  you  as 
bright  and  lovely  as  if  they  had  just  been 
painted.  There  is  a  series  of  his  paintings 
giving  the  history  of  Marie  de  Medicis,  that 
celebrated  and  beautiful  queen.  First,  her 
father  and  mother,  her  birth,  her  marriage 


—  106  — 

by  proxy  to  Henry  IV,  the  consummation 
of  that  marriage,  the  birth  of  Louis  XIII, 
his  conciliation  with  his  mother  (bearing 
olive  leaves),  her  coronation  and  other  pic- 
tures of  her  glory. 

By  Reni,  there  was  Hercules  killing  the 
hydra.  There  was  a  painting  of  lions  try- 
ing to  kill  a  horse  and  a  picture  of  the 
Prophet  Elias  fed  by  an  angel.  But  I  have 
told  you  but  little  of  what  I  saw. 

Good  night. 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


PARIS,  FRANCE,  Sept.  16,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  started  from  my  room  near  the  monu- 
ment of  the  Bastile  to  visit  Versailles.  I 
walked  to  Notre  Dame,  which  is  on  an  island 
of  the  Seine.  Going  on  foot  some  distance 
to  the  railroad  station,  I  noticed  that  the 
earth  had  a  yellowish  tinge,  like  potter's 


107  — 

clay,  and  it  was  not  far  from  Sevres.  On 
the  way  I  met  up  with  a  statue  of  Ney, 
standing  with  a  leg  thrown  forward,  his 
mouth  open  and  his  sword  raised  in  the  act 
of  charging.  The  way  by  rail  was  over 
charming  rolling  hills,  which  made  nie 
think  of  the  words,  u/a  belle  France  "  The 
palace  museum  at  Versailles  is  on  rising 
ground,  and  as  you  ascend  a  couple  of  acres 
there  is  a  line  on  each  side  of  the  busts  of 
great  Frenchmen.  In  the  rear  of  the  palace 
I  admired  the  large  garden  of  colored  plants 
and  the  beautiful  forest  beyond*'  Inside 
there  are  many  paintings  of  great  battles, 
but  battles  can  not  be  described  on  canvas. 
One  picture  of  the  night  scene  of  Napoleon 
sitting  in  his  camp  is  grand. 

In  the  bedroom  of  Louis  XIV  the  bed  is 
large  and  massive.  Likewise  the  bedroom 
of  Louis  XIII  was  furnished  with  a  bed, 
and  I  think  there  were  a  number  of  clocks 
of  his  manufacture  or  invention. 

On    the  way  back  I  was    amused    at    the 


—  108  — 

calling  out  at  a  station,  "Sant  Clew!"  Hav- 
ing in  history  read  much  of  the  great  things 
that  were  done  at  Saint  Cloud,  which  I 
thought  a  grand  sound,  I  could  not  help 
smiling  at  the  right  French  pronunciation. 
Adios. 

Your  Father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


LONDON,  ENGLAND,  Sept.  18,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

Here  we  are  in  England  !  England,  old 
England,  with  all  thy  faults  I  love  thee  still ! 
Home  of  my  language!  My  mother  tongue!  • 
After  being  in  the  different  nations  of  the 
Continent,  where  the  language,  manners 
and  customs  are  so  different  from  our  own, 
it  is  a  great  relief  to  get  where  English  is 
spoken. 

The  soil  and   the  pastures  here  are  fine. 
Cattle    are    abundant    and    the    fields    and 


—  109  — 

hedges  are  kept  in  good  order.  The  land  is 
rolling  and  lies  well.  Everything  looks  solid 
and  substantial  as  the  Englishman  is.  I 
have  to  put  on  a  winter  coat.  The  climate 
is  not  like  New  Orleans. 

My  first  day  in  London  being  Sunday  and 
everything  closed,  I  took  the  train  in  the 
afternoon  and  went  to  Saint  Michael's  church 
in  Saint  Albans,  to  view  the  sitting  statue 
of  Sir  Francis  Bacon ,  the  dear  old  soul !  When 
I  got  there  the  organist,  Mr.  Brewer,  was 
playing  and  some  boys  were  singing  church 
music.  It  is  a  rather  small  crude  building, 
and  was  the  first  Christian  church  within 
the  walls  of  old  Verulum.  Parts  of  the  old 
Roman  walls  six  or  seven  feet  high  are 
still  standing.  St.  Albans  is  a  handsome 
city  of  fifteen  thousand  people. 

I  stopped  at  a  hotel  in  Bremen  but  was 
not  pleased.  With  that  exception,  all  over 
^  Europe  I  hunted  up  private  houses  and  was 
more  at  home.  I  was  a  stranger  and  they 
took  me  in.  You  see,  in  Europe  I  was  trav- 


—  no  - 

eling  for  myself,  W.  W.  Handlin,  nobody 
else.  Here,  in  Old  England,  I  feel  that  I 
am  visiting  my  mother.  Their  politics  now 
are  a  little  cloudy.  The  Grand  Old  Man, 
Mr.  Gladstone,  the  Prime  Minister,  is  trying, 
it  seems  to  me,  to  remodel  the  English  gov- 
ernment with  reference  to  Ireland  somewhat 
on  the  plan  of  the  United  States.  The  op- 
position seem  not  to  understand,  or  don't 
want  to  understand,  and  they  raise  the  cry 
of  u disunion"  or  u denationalization,"  which 
is  an  evident  fallacy,  and  I  make  no  doubt 
that  home  rule,  which  we  call  local  self  gov- 
ernment, will  eventually  prevail.  You  know] 
our  general  government  takes  charge  of  all 
national  matters — the  army,  the  navy,  the 
foreign  relations,  the  mails,  coinage,  cus- 
toms and  other  such  matters,  leaving  to  the 
different  States  the  control  over  all  purely 
internal  affairs.  All  police  questions  and 
suits  between  party  and  party  and  land 
matters  are  governed  by  the  lex  loci  rei  sitae  .\ 
You  know  what  trouble  I  had  about  the  land 


—  Ill  — 

of  your  grandfather,  Pierre  E.  Mader,  which 
was  situated  in  Mississippi,  because  the  law 
of  that  common  law  State  is  so  different 
from  the  law  of  Louisiana,  which  is  derived 
from  the  Roman  law  and  the  Napoleon  Code. 

My  son,  I  have  tried  in  these  letters  to 
show  you  myself  as  in  a  glass,  as  my  lord 
Bacon  said  to  my  lord  Coke,  in  his  Expos- 
tulation, trusting  that  in  most  things  you 
will  strive  to  imitate  me  or  some  more  wor- 
thy example,  and  if,  at  my  age,  I  should 
receive  some  spiritual  communication  that 
you  have  done  as  well  as  I  have,  I  should 
be  content.  I  hope  you  will  try  to  be  pro- 
moted this  session  and  skip  over  the  course 
as  fast  as  you  can,  and  prepare  yourself  so 
as  to  be  able  to  represent  me  when  I  shall 
be  no  longer  there,  for  age  is  rapidly  ad- 
vancing upon  me.  Palida  mors  aequo  pede 
pulsat. 

Good-bye. 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


LONDON,  ENGLAND,  Sept.  19,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  suppose  I  must  write  you  something 
about  what  I  saw  in  London.  On  Monday 
I  visited  the  Bank  of  England,  the  Tower, 
St.  James  Park  and  Hyde  Park.  The  bank 
was  founded  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  Eliza- 
beth and  restored  in  the  eighth  of  Victoria. 

Monday  being  a  free  day,  crowds  of  people 
were  flocking  through  the  Tower,  which  was 
once  a  royal  residence  and  prison,  but  is 
now  a  museum.  In  the  first  room  is  the 
Queen's  gold.  It  is  deposited  in  a  round 
iron  cage,  ten  feet  in  diameter.  There  is  a 
gold  crown  with  precious  stones,  some  very 
large  gold  dishes,  and  a  great  many  gold 
salt  cellars  as  big  as  water  pitchers.  Also 
there  are  many  decorations  of  various  or- 
ders. The  building  is  of  rough  stones  and 
about  three  stories  high.  The  upper  part 
is  filled  with  all  kinds  of  arms,  old  guns  of 
India,  swords  and  a  great  many  curious  old 
things.  Also  there  are  many  knights, 


—  113  — 

mounted  and  in  full  armor,  which  is  some- 
thing like  Ruhmes  Halle,  in  Berlin. 

Some  of  the  principal  streets  are  the  Maul, 
Victoria,  Oxford,  Piccadilly,  Holborn, 
Cheapside  and  Leadenhall. 

I  visited  the  Courts  of  the  Queen's  Bench, 
the  Divisions  and  the  Hall  of  Chief  Justice. 
It  was  vacation,  but  the  attendants  kindly 
unlocked  the  place  and  showed  me  around. 
I  think  that  in  urbanity  and  politeness  the 
English  will  vie  with  any  people  on  the 
continent. 

I  also  visited  Gray's  Inn,  the  two  great 
courtyards,  the  garden  and  the  diningroom. 
The  latter  is  a  great  hall  where  probably 
two  hundred  lawyers,  judges  and  students 
dine  together  in  term  time.  The  oak  carv- 
ing is  very  fine,  and  the  oak  tables,  three 
inches  thick,  were  presented  by  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Among  the  portraits  are  those 
of  Burghley  and  Bacon. 

I  had  some  curiosity  to  see  Parliament  in 
session.  Permission  must  be  gotten  from  a 


—  114  — 

member  of  each  house  or  from  the  American 
minister.  I  rode  some  distance  to  the  lega- 
tion and  the  minister  was  said  not  to  be  in. 
The  secretary  handed  me  some  regulations 
to  read.  I  told  him  I  did  not  go  there  to 
read  a  book  or  to  study,  but  merely  to  get  a 
pass  to  look  in  on  Parliament.  He  then 
explained  verbally  their  position.  The 
minister  has  the  right  to  issue  two  permits 
a  day,  only  in  the  order  of  applications, 
which  must  be  accompanied  with  letters  of 
recommendation!  I  made  it  a  rule  in  my 
travels  never  to  attempt  to  see  anything 
that  was  too  difficult.  There  was  so  much 
to  be  seen  that  was  not  difficult,  and  one 
could  not  see  everything,  so  I  failed  to  see. 
the  noble  Lords  and  Commons. 

What  is  called  Cleopatra's  Needle  is  near 
the  Thames,  and  it  was  brought  only  a  few 
years  ago  from  Egypt.  *I  supposed  from 
the  bluster  that  it  had  some  connection  with 
Cleopatra,  but  it  is  only  an  obelisk  like 
those  in  Paris  and  Rome,  and  I  suppose  it 


—  115  - 

had  no  more  to  do  with  her  than  they  had. 
'Nelson's  monument  and  statue  are  like 
Lee's  in  New  Orleans.  They  are  on  Trafal- 
gar Square.  Four  great  lions,  designed  by  I 
forget  whom,  and  two  fountains  are  at  the 
base. 

Westminster  Abbey  is  a  great  church 
where  the  great  of  England  lie  buried.  It 
iis  a  large  Gothic  structure,  built  in  the  form 
of  a  cross.  The  windows  of  colored  glass 
are  very  beautiful.  I  got  there  a  quarter 
to  ten.  There  is  service  at  ten  and  at  three, 
i  Can  en  Duckworth,  one  of  the  Queen's  chap- 
lains, read  the  lessons  from  the  Bible,  Daniel 
and  St.  Paul.  A  minor  canon  led  the 
prayers  and  the  singing  by  the  choir  of  boys 
was  very  sweet. 

After  the  service  visitors  were  allowed  to 
inspect  the  place.  I  fell  in  with  a  French 
priest,  Father  Ran  con,  who  had  a  book,  and 
we  went  together.  At  the  entrance  stand 
statues  of  Palmerston,  Peel,  the  Cannings, 
Disraeli  and  others.  Near  the  poet's  corner 


—  116  — 

are  statues  and  tombs  of  England's  great 
romancers  and  writers,  Dickens,  Thackeray, 
Addison  and  others.  In  the  poet's  corner 
I  noticed  the  names  of  Milton,  Ben  Jonson, 
Dryden  and  Chaucer.  You  know  within 
the  last  year  I  have  read  the  three  volumes 
of  the  latter,  and  I  could  almost  imagine 
that  spiritually  I  was  in  his  genial  pres- 
ence. 

There  were  in  that  end  numerous  small 
chapels  with  monuments  to  the  great,  but 
at  the  extreme  end  stands  the  great  and 
celebrated  chapel,  a  small  church,  of  Henry 
the  Seventh.  In  the  center  there  is  a  lat- 
ticed iron  enclosure  twelve  by  twenty  feet 
and  ten  feet  high,  inside  of  which  on  an  ele- 
vation of  five  feet  are  laid  the  imitation 
bodies  of  Henry  the  Seventh  and  his  queen. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  House  of  Tudor, 
and  by  his  wisdom  and  frugality  he  amassed 
great  wealth  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
greatness  of  his  son,  Henry  the  Eighth,  and 
his  granddaughter,  Elizabeth.  In  Bacon's 


—  117  — 

works  at  home  you  will  find  a  very  interest- 
ing and  particular  history  of  that  monarch. 
As  Richmond,  he  overcame  Richard  the 
Third  in  battle,  and  so  had  a  title  by  con- 
quest, but  his  marriage  with  the  Princess 
of  York  gave  him  a  better  title,  which  he 
was  loth  to  acknowledge.  He  was  nothing 
but  a  nephew  or  something  of  the  sort  to 
Henry  the  Sixth,  but  the  marriage  united 
the  two  roses  of  Lancaster  and  York. 

Outside  the  Parliament  Building  there  is 
£  fine  equestrian  statue  of  Edward  the  Sec- 
ond, the  martyred  king. 

Your  Father, 

W.  W.  HANDUN. 

LONDON,  ENGLAND,  Sept.  22,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

After  going  through  Westminster  Abbey, 
it  was  near  1 2  when  I  got  to  the  National 
Gallery.  I  stayed  there  nearly  four  hours 
and  enjoyed  it  more  than  any  gallery  which 
[  have  visited,  in  which  I  was  aided  greatly 


—  118  — 

Iby  'British  good  sense,  for  every  picture  was 
Tplainly  marked,  what  it  was  and  by  whom, 
sso  there  was  no  need  for  a  book  or  guide.  I 
Ifaad  the  day  before  me,  was  in  no  hurry  and 
looked  at  every  picture,  big  and  little. 

Any  one  of  much  reading  can  not  fail  to 
ibe  greatly  profited  by  seeing  the  paintings 
<of  Burope,  because  they  refresh  the  memory 
;and  recall  nearly  everything  he  has  read. 

The  first  rooms  were  of  the  British  school, 
some  of  the  paintings  of  which  were  by 
JLandseer,  Hogarth,  Turner  and  Joshua 
Reynolds.  Then  came  the'  French  school, 
with  fine  paintings.  In  the  Spanish  school 
.1  noted  the  names  of  Murillo  and  Velazquez. 
vCarraci,  Rosa  and  Guido  .Reni  are  of  the 
Jtalian  school.  The  Peel  collection,  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish  schools  are  all  together. 
There  are  most  beautiful  landscape  paint- 
ings among  them.  Here  I  found  some  more 
<of  the  paintings  of  Rubens — Julius  Caesar, 
Peace  driving  away  the  horrors  of  War,  the 
Judgment  of  Paris,  and  others.  Rubens7 


—  119  — 

pictures  are  distinguished  for  the  brilliancy 
of  the  colors  and  the  beauty  of  the  faces. 
Rembrandt  was  another  great  painter. 

In  the  Italian  school  there  are  two  re- 
markable paintings  by  Polo  Veronese,  Scorn 
and  Respect.  Also  there  is  a  picture  of 
Darius  at  the  feet  of  Alexander;  then  some 

the  Tuscan,  the  Venetian,  the  Umbrian 
and  some  other  schools. 

This  climate  is  so  bracing  that  I  feel  like 
moving  all  the  time.  I  visited  St.  Paul 
Dathedral,  the  Whitechapel  quarter  and 
London  Bridge.  I  took  a  trip  up  the 
Thames  to  visit  the  botanical  gardens  of 
Kew,  but  I  started  late,  having  no  idea  of 
;he  distance,  and  just  before  getting  there  I 
ibandoned  the  trip  and  went  back.  But  the 
:rip  did  me  good.  I  saw  all  the  bridges,  the 
palace  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  on 
:he  far  side  of  the  Thames,  and  found 
chat  the  back  of  the  House  of  Parliament  is 
right  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  When  I 
:ame  to  London  I  was  so  completely  turned 


-    120  — 

round  that  I  thought  the  Thames  ran  from 
the  Tower  to  the  House  of  Parliament,  but 
I  now  find  that  it  runs  the  other  way,  and 
after  a  careful  study  of  my  maps  I  believe 
that  London  is  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Thames,  toward  Scotland. 

I  went  to  hear  Chevalier,  the  popular 
Costermonger  actor  and  author,  and  a  great 
many  others  at  the  Royal  Music  Hall  and 
Varieties  Theatre.  I  stayed  till  near  mid- 
night and  enclose  you  a  programme. 

After  a  great  deal  of  search  I  found  a 
store  that  keeps  the  Rogers  razors  you  want 
and  I  bought  you  a  nice  case.  You  know  I 
have  not  used  a  razor  since  the  inauguration 
of  President  Grant.  It  is  altogether  con- 
trary to  nature  and  no  improvement  in  art. 
I  look  upon  a  razor  as  useless  property,  a 
great  waste  of  time  and  a  great  bother. 

Yesterday  I  went  to  Regent's  Park,  which 
is  very  large  and  very  beautiful.  Near 
there  are  the  Zoological  Gardens.  I  paid  a 
shilling,  went  in  and  stayed  all  day  among 


—  121  — 

the  wild  birds  and  beasts.  There  are  very 
; pretty  colored  plants  there.  The  reptile 
and  insect  structures  are  covered  with  glass 
and  the  temperature  is  kept  at  about  sev- 
enty. They  have  everything  there  from  a 
moth  and  a  frog  up.  But  the  animal  king- 
dom is  very  extensive,  and  I  shall  have  to 
refer  you  to  books  of  natural  history  for 
description. 

It  is  getting  cold  here  and  I  want  to  get 
down  again  to  twenty-nine  latitude.  I  sail 
for  America  to-morrow. 

Au  revoir. 

Your  Father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 

LONDON,  ENGLAND,  Sept.  23,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

I  thought  I  had  written  you  my  last  letter 
from  here,  but  last  night  I  went  to  the  his- 
i  torical  theater  of  Drury  Lane. 

The  new  play  which  is  having  a  run  here 
has  some  political  bearing  on  the  Home 


—  122 

Rule  question,  inasmuch    as  the  first   aft 
involves  the  restoration  of  Irish  tenants. 

"A  Life  of  Pleasure"  is  the  title  of  the 
play.  The  heroine  of  the  play  is  Nora. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  the  evicted  tenant, 
who  was  a  substantial  farmer  who  gave  her 
a  refined  and  elegant  education,  far  above 
her  station.  The  villain  of  the  play  pre- 
tends to  be  in  love  with  her  and  at  the  same 
time  he  is  plotting  to  eject  her  father. 
Finally,  when  the  soldiers  were  clearing  the 
premises,  her  poor  but  faithful  lover,  who 
has  been  to  America,  comes  forward  with 
the  money  and  pays  the  rent.  Then  they 
find  a  document  which  annuls  the  rent  and 
it  has  to  be  paid  back.  A  nobleman,  who  is 
a  friend  from  childhood,  exacts  a  promise 
from  the  villain,  and  he  goes  to  India  to  the 
wars.  On  his  return  he  finds  that  the  vil- 
lain has  broken  his  promise  and  married  his 
own  intended  bride,  besides  having  com- 
mitted forgery.  The  heroine  concludes  to 
marry  O'Brien. 


F-  123  - 
Captain  Dandy  is  a  splendid  chara&er. 
He  is  all  of  a  gentleman  and  brave  as  a  lion  «, 
In  their  parties  and  courtships  he  is  con- 
stantly popping  the  question  in  good  earn- 
est, but  has  the  bad  luck  to  be  rejected! 
.more  than  once.  A  money-lending  Jew 
and  he  are  addressing  the  same  yotmg  lady;,. 
The  Jew  speaks  to  the  policeman,  who  prom- 
ises to  arrest  Dandy  and  get  him  oat  of  the: 
Vay.  Dandy  sees  the  policeman  and!  gives: 
him  a  shilling  for  his  wife  and  child.  The: 
policeman  says  there  are  two  children,  andl 
he  gives  him  another  shilling.  Then  he: 
says  there  is  a  baby  and  gets  another.. 
When  the  time  comes  for  the  arrest  the  Jew 
dares  Captain  Dandy  to  lay  his  hand  oni 
him,  which  is  an  assault.  Dandy  shows; 
him  to  the  other  end  of  the  stage,  and  im 
the  hubbub  the  Jew  is  arrested  and  marched 
off  to  jail. 

There  was  a  great  battle  in  India  towaixl 
the  end  of  the  play  and  the  scene  was  extra- 
ordinary. In  fact  the  whole  play  is  very 


—  124  — 

good  and  woman  is  shown  to  great  advan- 
tage. Drury  Lane  is  a  very  large  theater, 
and  the  house  was  crowded. 

I  got  lost  both  going  to  and  coming  from 
the  theater  in  those  narrow  streets,  Drury 
Lane,  Fetter  Lane  and  Chancery  Lane. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  have  mentioned  that 
I  visited  the  law  courts  of  London.  The 
building  is  one  of  those  substantial  edifices 
which  they  build  in  the  old  countries,  and  it 
reminds  one  of  the  two  splendid  courthouses 
on  the  sides  of  the  Cathedral  in  New  Or- 
leans, which  were  built  by  Almonaster  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  but  the  chief  justice's 
room  is  not  as  fine  as  our  Supreme  Court 
room,  and  the  rooms  of  our  inferior  courts 
are  better  and  larger  than  those  of  their 
courts  of  the  first  instance.  Our  Spanish 
Benefactor  had  the  walls  made  of  thick  ma- 
sonry, suitable  for  a  tropical  climate,  cool 
in  summer  and  warm  in  winter.  The  same 
building  in  London  has  served  for  ages. 
And  yet  the  young  lawyers  in  New  Orleans 


—  125  — 

are    continually  agitating  the    question    of 
building  a   new  courthouse,  aided  perhaps 
by  politicians,  to  give  somebody  a   job  in 
building  some  flimsy  American  structure. 
Your  Father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Oct.,  1893. 
William,  My  Son: 

Home  again !  It  is  hardly  worth  while  to 
record  my  trip  from  Europe,  but  some 
things  were  so  vividly  impressed  upon  my 
mind  that  I  will  set  them  down  here  and  try 
to  rescue  them  from  the  oblivion  of  eternal 
night.  They  might  as  well  go  along- with 
the  other  stuff.  On  the  23d  of  September 
I  sailed  from  Southampton  on  the  then 
crowded  greyhound  steamer  Berlin.  An 
educated  Englishman  occupied  the  same 
room.  A  fancy  struck  me  to  travel  incog- 
nito. He  asked  me  my  name,  and  I  said, 
"  William  Wallace,"  and  he  remarked,  "the 
Kingmaker. ' J  In  the  dining  room ,  on  enter- 


—  126  — 

ing,  I  noticed  the  chambermaid,  who  was 
rather  good  looking,  very  busily  engaged  in 
patting  her  foot  and  singing,  " After  the 
Ball  is  Over."  It  struck  me  as  rather  a 
pretty  song,  which  I  had  never  heard  be- 
fore, bnt  in  coming  over  a  good  many  others 
were  humming  it,  and  all  the  way  from  New 
York  I  heard  nothing  else  but — 

"After  the  ball  is  over, 
After  the  break  of  day, 
Many  a  heart  is  aching, 
After  the  ball." 

It  was  a  fashionable  song  which  will  have 
its  day. 

Before  daylight  we  got  into  New  York 
harbor  and  the  dawn  revealed  the  grand 
Bartholdi  tower.  I  hastened  on  to  the  ferry 
and  crossed  to  the  railroad  office  to  get  a 
ticket,  and  as  I  was  getting  short  I  asked 
for  a  second  class  ticket,  which  was  forty- 
two  dollars,  and  a  first  class  was  only  forty 
dollars,  a  thing  I  could  not  understand.  I 
was  greatly  surprised  at  such  cost,  as  for 


—  127  — 

two  hundred  francs  one  can  travel  nearly 
all  over  Europe;  but  there  the  railroads  are 
run  by  the  governments  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people.  I  took  the  Southern  route,  as 
I  had  often  been  on  Northern  roads. 

The  Chesapeake  route  to  Richmond  is 
charming.  Richmond  is  a  hilly  city,  and 
as  there  was  a  stop  for  some  hours  I  strolled 
over  the  capitol  grounds.  A  life-size  statue 
of  Henry  Clay  is  interesting  from  its  polite 
old-ladylike  appearance.  Some  distance 
down  the  train  stopped  at  a  country  station, 
and  I  was  standing  on  the  platform.  I  saw 
the  conductor  stand  talking  with  an  old 
citizen  and  overheard  what  they  said,  as 
they  kept  looking  at  me.  The  man  took 
me  for  some  public  man  he  knew,  and  the 
conductor  shook  his  head  and  said,  uNo;  it 
looks  sorter  like  'im,  but  it  taint  him.'' 
Then  I  knew  I  was  in  my  own  country. 

All  the  way  down  through  the  South  I 
could  not  help  noticing  how  the  farms  and 


-  128  — 

the  lands  seemed  to  be  worn  out,  neglected 
and  abandoned.  There  seemed  to  be  no 
grasses  or  fertilizers  used,  and  in  this  re- 
spect the  contrast  with  the  careful  cultiva- 
tion in  Germany  is  striking,  where  lands 
have  been  made  to  support  a  teeming  popu- 
lation for  centuries.  But  I  am  afraid  to 
pursue  this  subject,  as  Kipling  wrote: 

''And  one  long. since  a  pillar  of  the  state, 
As  mud  between  the  beams  is  wrought, 

And  one,  who  wrote  on  phosphates  for  the  crop, 
Is  subject  matter  of  his  own  report." 

At  Montgomery  we  stopped  a  day  on  ac- 
count of  the  storm,  which  had  destroyed  the 
bridge  on  the  gulf  shore,  and  then  we  came 
by  Meridian  and  the  Northeastern  road. 

I  should  be  glad  to  go  to  Europe  every 
summer,  where  I  could  converse  in  the  for- 
eign languages,  especially  Italian  and  Ger- 
man, but  the  prospect  is  not  bright  for  good 
times,  such  as  we  have  had  under  the  high 


-129- 

tariff,  as  a  low  tariff  will  be  put  on.     The 
extra  session  of  Congress  does  great  harm. 

Your  father, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


—  130 


HOW  NOT  TO  DO  IT. 

INEFFICIENCY     OF    AMERICAN     CONSULS     IN 
ITALY    SHOWN    BY  JUDGE    HANDLIN. 

This  story  is  a  tale  of  the  inefficiency  of 
the  American  consular  system,  especially 
applied  to  its  operations  in  Italy.  Those 
who  have  read  in  Little  Dorrit  of  the  famous 
Circumlocution  office,  or  uHow  Not  to  Do 
It,"  can  appreciate  the  meaning  of  the  pro- 
test which  arises  from  an  American  citizen 
and  resident  of  the  United  States  against 
the  army  of  inefficients  who  seem  mainly  to 
constitute  the  personnel  of  Uncle  Sam's 
hired  men  over  in  foreign  lands. 

Living  down  in  the  third  district  of  this 
city  are  three  aged  ladies,  poor,  infirm  and 
deprived  of  many  of  the  comforts  and  neces- 
sities which  should  fall  to  the  lot  of  those 
advanced  in  years.  They  are  sisters,  their 
family  name  being  Paturzo,  but  they  have 


—  131  — 

become  wives,  and  Mme.  Fortune  Giraud, 
Mme.  Feraud  and  Mme.  Marin  are  the 
names  by  which  they  are  now  known. 
Their  father  came  to  this  country  years  ago 
and  married  a  Creole  lady,  and  to  them,  on 
American  soil,  these  three  children  were 
born.  He  had  left  behind,  in  Sorrento,  near 
Naples,  a  fine  estate.  This  fell  into  the 
hands  of  an  unscrupulous  relative,  and  it 
was  in  the  efforts  to  regain  this  heritage 
that  the  unexpected  inefficiency  of  the 
United  States  consuls  there  was  developed, 
and  their  disregard  of  the  rights  and  de- 
mands of  American  born  citizens. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Handlin,  the  well  known  at- 
torney of  this  city,  was  in  1893  about  to 
take  a  pleasure  trip  oyer  the  European  con- 
tinent, when  he  was  asked  to  undertake 
this  case  for  the  three  old  ladies.  He  con- 
sented to  do  so,  free  of  cost,  and  left  New 
Orleans  by  the  steamer  Akaba  and  proceeded 
to  Bremen.  He  visited  Berlin,  Dresden, 
Vienna,  Paris,  London,  Venice,  Rome,  Na- 


—  132  - 

pies,  and  finally  Sorrento,  staying  in  Italy 
over  three  weeks  to  try  to  adjust  the  claim, 
and  starting  it  then,  it  has  lain  dormant 
ever  since.  Judge  Handlin  has  no  hopes 
of  anything  now,  but  that  the  exposition  of 
the  case  might  do  some  possible  benefit  to 
some  one  or  any  one  he  gives  it  free  vent. 

In  speaking  to  a  States  reporter  about  the 
affair,  Judge  Handlin  said: 

uOn  the  eve  of  my  departure  for  Europe 
in  1893,  my  friend,  the  late  notary,  Marcel 
Ducros,  requested  me  to  recover  the  inher- 
itance of  Mme.  Giraud^and  her  two  sisters, 
and  they  gave  me  a  full  power  of  attorney. 
Knowing  the  good  faith  observed  in  France 
and  Germany  in  transmitting  funds  belong- 
ing to  heirs,  I  supposed  from  the  authentic 
documents  that  it  would  be  an  easy  matter. 
But  I  had  not  then  had  to  do  with  the  Ital- 
ians of  Naples,  nor  with  the  United  States 
consuls  there." 

44 What  was  your  experience  in  Naples?" 

"When  I  arrived  in  Naples,  after  visiting 


—  133  — 

:he  palace,  the  museums  and  Pompeii,  I 
thought  I  would  take  a  run  of  half  an  hour 
down  to  Sorrento,  situated  on  a  bluff  on  the 
ivest  side  of  the  bay,  and  settle  up  the  busi- 
ness. The  town  is  celebrated  as  the  birth - 
Dlace  of  Torquato  Tasso,  whose  statue  stands 
the  public  square.  I  found  the  two  prop- 
erties which  belonged  to  Joseph  Paturzo,  the 
ather  of  the  ladies,  and  his  brother  Mat- 
;hew,  the  only  heirs.  One  was  a  large  pal- 
ice-looking  house  with  extensive  grounds, 
't  was  occupied  by  a  cousin  of  the  heirs, 
vho  was  a  bank  director  in  Sorrento,  but  he 
vas  not  at  home  and  I  was  refused  admit- 
ance  by  the  family.  In  all  I  spent  a  week 
>r  ten  days,  and  when  I  got  an  interview 
nth  Mr.  Archangel  Paturzo  he  seemed  to 
>e  ignorant  of  any  relations  in  America  and 
;ave  me  no  satisfaction.  I  threatened  suit 
nd  returned  to  Naples." 

uDid  you  bring  the  suit?" 

"No;  I  tried  hard,  but  could  not.  I  saw 
)ur  different  lawyers.  They  all  spoke 


—  134  — 

French,  and  we  communicated  in  that  lan- 
guage. But  a  more  conscienceless  lot  of 
wordy ,  parrot-like  men  I  never  saw.  Finally 
I  found  one  who  undertook  the  recovery  of 
the  estate  if  a  considerable  sum  for  expenses 
and  costs  was  furnished.  He  receipted  to 
me  for  the  amount,  sixty  dollars,  and  all  the 
documentary  proofs,  but  in  four  years  he 
has  never  filed  a  paper  in  court,  and  only 
written  two  letters,  in  the  last  of  which  he 
wanted  four  times  as  much  money  as  he 
had  got.  Then,  abandoning  all  hope,  I 
endeavored  to  get  back  the  evidence  to  re- 
turn it  to  the  heirs,  but  he  holds  it  with  im- 
punity, doubtless  for  blackmailing  pur- 
poses.'' 

<(But  what  about  the  consuls?" 
44  Well,  I  have  had  to  do  with  three  con- 
suls at  Naples  and  another  in  a  town  near 
by,  and  each  one  seemed  to  be  more  igno- 
rant than  the  other.  Their  method  seems 
to  be  evasion  and  shifting  the  duty  on  some 
one  else.  They  say,  "That  is  private  busi- 


—  135  — 

ness,n  as  though  every  class  of  rights  as  to 
person  and  property  of  the  citizen  is  not 
private.  Probably  some  of  the  voluminous 
correspondence  would  throw  some  light  on 
how  little  Americans  have  to  expect  in  the 
way  of  protection.  I  turn  it  over  to  you.M 
The  Judge  then  handed  the  letters  to  the 
reporter,  which  read  as  follows: 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Sept.  21,  1897. 
John  Sherman,  Secretary  of  State: 

SIR — Shortly  after  your  induction  into 
office  I  laid  before  you  the  complaint  of  the 
three  sisters  of  this  city,  Mine.  Giraud,  Mine. 
Feraud  and  Mme.  Marin.  They  are  all 
widows.  I  have  been  working  at  their  claim 
for  the  inheritance  of  their  father,  Joseph 
Paturzo,  of  Sorrento,  near  Naples,  since 
1893,  when  I  was  there,  without  any  result, 
on  account  of  inefficiency  of  the  consul  at 
Naples  and  his  consular  agent,  Ciampa,  at 
Sorrento.  The  latter  has  never  deigned  to 
answer  a  letter,  and  although  it  appears  that 
• 


—  136  — 

he  has  all  the  evidence  of  heirship  in  his 
possession,  it  is  impossible  to  get  the  evi- 
dence returned,  and  his  superior  at  Naples 
has  exacted  no  report  and  returned  no 
replies  to  our  importunities,  you  have  done 
nothing.  From  all  of  my  reading  and 
study,  I  should  judge  if  these  ladies,  'native 
born  citizens,  can  get  no  better  assistance 
and  support,  there  might  as  well  be  no  gov- 
ernment and  no  representatives  abroad. 

The  lazy,  unprincipled  Neapolitans  are 
allowed  to  hold  on  to  the  inheritance  of  the 
heirs  here,  and  the  agent,  Ciampa,  is  upheld 
by  our  consul  and  his  government.  In  the 
meantime  the  so-called  government  of  the 
United  States,  with  fear  and  trembling,  pays 
for  the  worthless  lives  of  Sicilians  in  Louisi- 
ana. What  good  are  the  big  war  ships?  Sir, 
I  trust  you  will  take  such  action  in  this  mat- 
ter, now  brought  to  your  personal  attention, 
as  your  sense  of  justice  and  gallantry  may 
dictate.  Yours,  etc., 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


—  137  — 

The  Judge  also  gave  the  reporter  some  of 
the  correspondence  which  showed  the  atti- 
tude of  the  United  States  consuls  toward 
unfortunate  Americans  in  foreign  lands. 
Here  they  are: 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE, 
Washington,  Oct.  26,  1897. 

W.  W .  Handlin,  Esq. ,  New  Orleans,  La. : 

Sir — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
a  postal  card  from  you,  dated  the  23d  in- 
stant, in  regard  to  the  case  of  Mme.  Giraud 
and  others. 

As  you  have  already  been  informed,  the 
matter  is  a  private  one  between  you  and  the 
commercial  agent  at  Castellamare.  The  De- 
partment can  take  no  further  steps  in  the 
case. 

Respe&fully  yours, 

THOS.  W.  CRIDLER, 
Third  Assistant  Secretary. 


138  — 

UNITED  STATES  CONSULATE, 

Naples,  Oct.  6,  1897. 
W.  W.  Handlin,  Esq.,  New  Orleans: 

Dear  Sir — Having  just  assumed  the  du- 
ties of  United  States  consul  at  Naples,  I 
know  nothing  of  the  subject  matter  of  your 
complaining  letter,  but  as  you  represent  the 
estate  to  be  in  Sorrento,  you  should  address 
the  U.  S.  consul  at  Castellamare,  a  fact  of 
which  I  am  told  you  have  heretofore  been 
informed,  and,  as  now,  at  the  expense  of 
this  consulate. 

You  can  save  time  and  expense  for  your- 
self, as  well  as  for  this  office,  by  addressing 
your  future  complaints  to  the  proper  con- 
sulate. 

A.  H.  BIJINGTON, 

U.  S.  Consul. 

uWhat  is  the  use  of  lying?"  said  the 
Judge.  "The  court  which  has  jurisdiction 
of  the  estate  in  Sorrento  sits  in  Naples. 
The  lawyer  who  has  embezzled  my  evidence 


(139  - 
is  there.  Truly,  it  is  necessary  to  'know 
nothing  of  the  subject  matter/  not  to  know 
this.  How  have  I  been  misinformed  at  any- 
body's expense,  that  the  consul  at  Castell- 
amare  is  the  proper  man,  when  the  United 
States  goverment  makes  an  allowance  to  the 
consulate  for  postage? 

uAnd  my  case  is  not  an  isolated  one.  In 
fact,  the  policy  which  this  government  has 
pursued  for  several  years  toward  her  citizens 
resident  in  foreign  countries,  however  in- 
sulted or  outraged,  has  been  weak  and  con- 
temptible." 

The  Judge  handed  the  newspaper  man  an 
editorial  clipping  from  the  Louisville  Journal 
'which  rather  hit  the  nail  on   the   head.     It 
read  as  follows: 

uThe  Roman  emperor,  on  hearing  of 
Herod  the  Great's  wholesale  butchery  of  his 
sons,  remarked:  'I'd  rather  be  Herod's  hog 
than  Herod's  son.'  Herod,  being  a  Jew, 
was  very  lenient  toward  hogs.  Now,  after 
mature  reflection,  it  appears  to  me  that,  so 


—  140  — 

far  as  protection  is  concerned,  it  is  better  to 
be  an  American  hog  than  an  American  citi- 
zen in  a  strait,  for  the  government  never 
fails  to  protect  American  pork.n 

Jndge  Handlings  work  was  for  charity  and 
at  his  own  expense,  and  this  is  all  he  has 
gotten  in  return. 


—  141  — 
CELEBRATED  BRIGANDS. 

The  bandit  Fioravanti  (First  Flower), 
just  killed  near  Rome,  was  celebrated  in 
brigandage,  where  for  years  central  and 
southern  Italy  has  been  affli&ed.  Luciano 
Fioravanti  was  born  in  1842  at  Aqua  Pen- 
dente.  He  was  first  a  stable  boy  and  after- 
wards a  coachman.  In  1880  he  married  the 
niece  of  the  bandit  Biagini,  by  whom  he  had 
two  children.  Ten  years  later  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  some  months  in  jail  for  having 
stolen  a  pair  of  boots.  Fioravanti  preferred 
the  open  air  to  the  prison  and  became  a 
brigand,  following  the  uncle  of  his  wife  in 
spoliation  and  plunder.  In  1892,  with  the 
brigand  Betinelli,  he  had  an  encounter  with 
the  carabiniers  in  which  they  were  wounded. 
Later  on,  with  Biagini  and  Tiburzi  (pro- 
nonnced  Teboortsey),  he  killed  Betinelli 
because  he  had  betrayed  the  band.  In 
1895,  in  another  encounter  with  the  carabi- 
niers, Biagini  was  killed,  but  Fioravanti 


—  142  — 

escaped.  He  escaped  again  in  1896,  when 
the  terrible  Tiburzi  was  killed  in  the  forest 
Capalbio.  Fioravanti  in  that  fight  was 
saved  as  by  a  miracle  from  the  shower  of 
bullets  of  the  carabiniers,  who  surprised  the 
two  bandits  at  dinner  in  a  country  house. 
He  then  remained  the  sole  survivor  of  the 
Tiburzi  band,  and  from  that  day  the  brig- 
and, feared  by  all,  lived  in  the  leafy  forests 
of  Mount  Lamone,  and  he  was  constantly 
assisted  by  the  espionage  of  the  shepherds 
and  other  inhabitants  of  those  forests,  who 
furnished  him  with  food,  clothing,  cigars 
and  spending  money.  With  the  aid  of  the 
people  he  compelled  to  follow  him,  he  or-; 
dered  first  one  and  then  another  to  pay  con- 
tributions, and  in  this  way  he  succeeded  in  j 
collecting  a  few  thousand  lire,  upon  which 
he  lived;  and  when  the  citizens  refused  to 
pay  his  tax  he  set  fire  to  their  houses.  Last 
year  the  Marquis  Guglieluri,  for  having  re- 
fused a  few  thousand  lire,  had  to  suffer  a 
much  heavier  loss. 


—  143  — 

Fioravanti  held  a  most  brilliant  rank  of 
service.  He  was  accused  under  thirteen 
warrants  of  arrest  for  theft,  robbery,  at- 
tempted murder,  extortion  and  murder. 
Finally  Frontflower,  on  whose  head  there 
was  a  price  of  four  thousand  lire  by  the  gov- 
ernment, was  buried  in  a  neglected  country 
graveyard.  His  brain  was  carried  off  by 
the  doctors,  placed  in  alcohol  and  presented 
to  Professor  Lombroso,  who  desired  it  for 
his  studies. 
[Translated  from  Italian  July  20,  1900.] 

THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN. 

The  Garden  of  Eden  was  a  delightful 
place,  with  a  very  equable  climate.  People 
were  satisfied  with  their  condition  and  had 
no  undue  aspirations  or  desires.  It  is  true 
of  human  beings  that  they  think  what  they 
are  accustomed  to  is  right.  Except  man, 
all  other  animals  are  in  a  state  of  nature  to 
this  day.  Nothing  unseemly  is  seen  in  the 
natural  form  of  an  animal.  It  is  habit 


-  -  144  — 

which  governs  in  this  respect.  The  greati 
statue  of  Pompey  at  Rome  is  in  a  state  o^ 
nudity,  and  a  lady  can  behold  it  withouti 
embarrassment . 

Now,  the  devil  is  a  necessary  and  well-| 
defined  character  in  the  affairs  of  menj 
Everything  was  lovely  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden  until  he  entered  there.  The  people 
did  not  know  that  they  needed  any  clothing 
until  he  told  them,  and  then  they  covered 
their  bodies  with  fig  leaves. 

In  this  view,  assistance  has  been  sought. 

£  SON  OCHO? 

Once,  in  the  afternoon,  I  was  sitting  on  a 
seat  in  a  recess  of  the  charming  wood  of  the 
Alameda  in  the  city  of  Mexico.  An  ele- 
gant carriage  on  the  driveway  stopped  in 
front  to  afford  the  occupants  an  opportunity 
to  take  a  stroll  through  the  shady  walks. 
A  Mexican  grandee,  with  a  nurse,  or  guar- 
dian, and  a  number  of  children,  all  about 
the  same  size  and  splendidly  attired,  issued 


—  145  — 

rom  the  vehicle.  He  was  a  tall,  well 
ormed  man,  and  his  face  beamed  with  kind- 
Less  and  happiness. 

As  they  were  passing  through  the  open 
ircle,  he  suddenly  checked  himself  and 
.sked:  "^Sohdckofc*  (Are  there  eight?) 

could  not  help  thinking  that  there  was 
omething  ridiculous  in  the  uncertainty  of 
|he  father  in  having  to  count  his  children 
3  see  if  they  were  all  there. 


SELF. 

Many  are  blamed  for  selfishness.  That 
;  all  wrong.  It  is  a  cardinal  principle  in 
at ure  itself.  But  for  selfishness  the  crea- 
ion  as  now  constituted  could  not  exist.  It 
es  under  the  principle  of  the  attraction  of 
:>hesion.  See,  with  what  consistency  the 
rop  of  water  preserves  itself  in  the  descent 
•om  the  cloud.  The  chop  in  the  live  tree 
loses  with  time.  When  the  nail  or  the 
-edge  is  extracted  from  the  dead  wood,  the 
mt  is  closed  or  becomes  smaller.  "Nature 


—  146  — 

abhors  a  vacuum,"  is  a  maxim  which 
proves  the  tendency  of  a  person  or  thing  to 
restore,  protect  and  preserve  itself.  And 
this  forms  character. 

A  SINGULAR  CASE. 

Don  Jose:     , 

Amignito — Tengo  tin  bnen  caso  y  mny 
singular.  Qniero  ver  a  v.  niafiana  por  esta 
parte  para  hacerle  verlo.  Yo  hnbiera  reci- 
bido  $125  6  $130*  No  qniseron,  y  ademas 
me  scandalizaron.  Ahora,  he  descnbierto 
qne  por  la  ley  me  deben  $830. 

I  Qne  le  parece  ?  I  Qne  dice  V.?  Quando 
el  Diablo  gnia  a  los  malvados  se  hechaii  a 
su  perdicion. 

Octobre  12  de  1899. 


SPIRITS. 


The  testimony  of  visits  from  spirits  is 
both  curious  and  interesting.  My  mother- 
in-law,  Mme.  Victoire  Azelie  Mader,  was  a 
lady.  She  had  read  a  great  deal  and  was 


—  148  — 

In  the  winter  an  ugly  old  buzzard,  a 
vulture,  flew  over  into  our  rear  yard  from 
somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  and  the  two 
boys  rushed  out  to  see  it.  My  blood  ran 
cold.  '  Shortly  after  my  poor  Joseph,  who 
was  then  sixteen  and  reading  Caesar  at  col- 
lege, took  sick  of  pneumonia  or  typhoid 
fever  and  died.  The  doctors  did  not  know 
what  it  was. 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  RECEPTION. 

Just  before  the  war,  in  1860,  when  the 
people  were  surfeited  with  prosperity,  every- 
body was  traveling.  Having  made  the  tour 
of  the  North  as  far  as  Quebec,  I  happened 
in  Washington  on  the  arrival  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  There  were 
fireworks  and  all  sorts  of  amusements,  and 
Washington  was  full  of  people.  The  next 
day  President  Buchanan  was  to  hold  a  re- 
ception. We  entered  the  White  House  in 
a  long  line,  single  file.  The  President  was 
a  large  old  gentleman  with  a  large  head. 


—  149  — 

but  with  little  hair.     The  prince  was  rather 
a  small,  fair,  slender  yonng  man.     I  forget 
if  the  President  shook  hands  or  not,  but  the 
prince,  about  five  feet  off,  made  a  distinct 
bow  as  each  one  of  us  passed  and  made  a 
slight  stop  and  bow.     Lord  Lyons  and  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle  stood  a  little  to  the  right. 
Lyons  was  a  large,  dark,  homely,  intellect- 
ual looking  man.     The  old  duke  was  large, 
stout  and  pleasant,  with  plain,  comfortable 
clothing.     Being  a  pushing  young  man,  I 
went  up  to  the  duke  and  had  some  common- 
place talk.    I  presented  my  companion,  Dr. 
Vegas,  and  he  .seemed  pleased.     After  half 
an  hour  the  people  began  to  scatter,  and, 
perhaps  being,  tired  of  the  exercise,  it  was 
announced  that  the  reception  was  at  an  end, 
the  door  was  closed,  with  thousands  yet  to 
come  in  the  line  who  were  deprived  of  the 
satisfaction  and  pleasure  of  a  bow  from  the 
prince. 


—  150  — 
KIPLING. 

The  value  of  Kipling  seems  to  consist  in 
the  very  healthy  morality  of  his  writings. 
Nearly  all  his  pieces  give  good  moral  les- 
sons. This  comes  from  good  training  and 
from  the  fact,  if  I  remember  rightly,  that 
both  his  father  and  his  mother  sprang  from 
families  of  reverends. 

" At  the  Pit's  Month"  shows  vice  in  its 
nakedness,  and  therefore  it  is  to  be  shunned. 
His  novel,  "  The  Light  That  Failed, "  is  a 
work  about  painters  and  paintings.  His 
father  was  an  artist,  and  hence  he  knew 
whereof  he  wrote. 

A  parallel  may  be  drawn  .between  friend- 
ship and  love.  The  beauty.of  true  friend- 
ship, where  it  does  exist,  is  drawn  by  a 
master  hand,  while  love  is  not  presented  in 
so  favorable  a  light.  Dick,  the  hero,  pre- 
serves his  purity  of  character  until  death  in 
the  arms  of  his  friend,  Torpenhow,  the 
thought  of  whose  friendship  had  saved  him 
from  the  temptation  of  Bessie,  and  he  had 


—  151  — 

saved  Turpenhow  from  the  same.  Dick's 
love  for  Maisie,  not  reciprocated,  and  the 
absurdity  of  his  will  in  her  favor  show  that 
such  love  is  a  tyrannical,  unreasoning  pas- 
sion, and  is  uthe  child  of  folly." 

Quis    Epaminondam    muszcam    docuit  ? 
Who  taught  Epaminondas  music? 

THE  HOUND. 

McK.,  an  old  college  mate,  a  jolly  good 

fellow,  a  crack  shot,  a  young  lawyer  in  the 

county  town  and  a  lover  of  good  whiskey, 

£ame  down  to  the  farm  on  the  Ohio  river, 

^opposite  the  head  of   Hurricane  Island,  to 

pend    a   week   with    us.     Mr.    Wallace,   a 

arge  slave  owner,  lived  opposite  the  lower 

nd  of  the  island.     He  had  a  fine  pack  of 

leerhounds,  and  old  Uncle  Gaben  was  the 

porting  master.     Uncle  Gaben  was  a  pen- 

doner,  an  old  Virginia  gentleman  who  had 

;pent  his  fortune  and  who  sometimes  taught 

ichool.     He  had  a  habit  of  talking  to  him- 

ielf.     We  wrote  down  to  him  of  our  friend 


—  152  — 

Mack's  arrival  and  requested  him  to  join  uj 
with  the  hounds  in  a  hunt  on  the  island 
He  accepted  and  answered  by  a  note  stating 
that  he  would  meet  one  of  us  and  cross  ove: 
to  the  lower  end  of  the  island  and  drive  up 
and  that  Mack  could  stand  toward  the  uppei 
end.  On  the  following  day  my  brother 
crossed  over  with  Uncle  Gaben  and  the 
hounds,  while  I  landed  Mack  above.  He 
got  out  in  the  heavy  timber  and  under- 
growth and  heard  the  horns.  Presently  he 
saw  something  bounding  along  over  the 
high  weeds  and  blazed  away  with 'his  rifle, 
The  leader  of  the  pack,  with  a  loud  yelp 
tumbled  over  dead.  Mack  turned  towarc 
home.  The  hunt  was  over.  When  Unclt 
Gaben  and  my  brother  heard  the  shot  anc 
the  hound's  loud  voice,  Uncle  Gaben  said 
uHe  has  killed  my  dog.  I  would  rathe 
have  lost  the  best  horse  we  have."  M] 
brother  said,  " Let's  go  and  see."  But  Uncl 
Gaben  said,  uOh,  no;  I  don't  want  to  se 
him."  Mack 'returned  to  his  office  in  towi 


rather  crestfallen  over  the  unfortunate  re- 
sult of  his  hunting  excursion. 

THE  MARE. 

I  started  on  a  trip  of  several  miles  through 
the  woods  on  Jenny,  a  fine  sorrel  mare  of 
my  father,  with  a  Lancaster  rifle,  thinking 
to  do  some  hunting  on  the  way.  When  I 
reached  the  top  of  a  high  ridge,  a  flock  of 
rwild  turkeys  started  up  and  ran  through  the 
trees  and  brush.  I  hitched  the  mare  and 
went  tearing  down  the  slope  after  the  tur- 
keys. I  cocked  the  gun,  but  forgot  to  let 
down  the  hammer.  After  a  circuit  I  got 
back  to  the  ridge,  a  hundred  yards  from  the 
mare.  The  devil  put  the  idea  into  my  head 
that  if  she  were  a  deer  she  would  be  a  good 
shot.  I  leveled  the  rifle  at  her  heart, 
touched  the  hair  trigger,  and  she  fell.  I 
ran  to  her  and  tried  to  stop  the  bullet  hole, 
having  read  about  the  staunching  of  wounds. 
But  she  made  a  last  struggle  and  died.  It 
reminds  me  of  what  I  witnessed  later  on. 


—  154  — 

A  stout,  healthy  man  was  shot  down' by  one  I 
in  his  company  at  the  siege  of  Granada,  Ni- 
caragua, as  they  rushed  out  through  the 
jungle  to  strengthen  a  weak  point  against  the 
besiegers .  A  sudden  quarrel ,  loud  words  from 
•  him,  a  shot  from  behind,  he  fell  struggling 
for  life,  while  the  others  moved  on.  I  only 
write  the  truth,  that  I  am  pushed  to  write 
by  something  which  draws  me  to  it.  Well, 
I  returned  home  to  the  farm,  carrying  the 
saddle  and  the  gun.  Thousands  of  beeves 
and  some  horses  in  Paris  are  slain  daily  for 
human  food,  which  the  carnivorous  nature 
of  man  makes  necessary.  But  notwith- 
standing the  consciousness  of  all  these 
things,  and  after  a  long  life,  I  never  think 
of  my  own  thoughtlessness  on  that  occasion 
but  an  uncontrollable  sadness  comes  over 
me,  and  I  feel  sorry  for  the  unmerited  death 
of  poor  Jenny  ! 

My  father  returned  home  after  an  absence 
of  some  weeks,  but  he  never  mentioned  the 
mare  to  me.  Doubtless  he  thought  that  my 


—  155  — 

own  mortification  and  remorse  were  suf- 
ficient punishment.  However,  he  said  to 
my  mother,  "  if  it  had  been  a  deer  he'd  have 
killed  it."  One  day,  at  Rome,  Epictitus 
went  out  and  saw  a  woman  weeping  because 
she  had  lost  her  son.  The  next  day  he 
went  out  and  saw  a  woman  weeping  because 
she  had  broken  her  pitcher. 


THE  FABLE. 

A  wagoner,  whose  team  was  stalled,  was 
kneeling  down  and  praying  to  Jupiter  to 
help  to  get  him  out  of  the  mire.  A  friend, 
passing  that  way,  called  out:  "  Get  up, 
man,  whip  your  horses,  put  your  own 
shoulder  to  the  wheel,  and  then  Jupiter  will 
help  you." 

Note  —  I  handed  the  above  to  a  client, 
who  hesitated  to  take  the  forward  steps  I 
advised. 


A  DREAM. 

I    thought  my    disembodied    soul    stood 


156  

'above  my  mangled  and  bleeding  body.  I 
saw  robbers  open  my  head  and  take  an 
enormous  jewel  therefrom.  A  horde  of 
savages  pursued  the  robbers  from  Canada 
to  Cape  Horn.  A  congressman  and  a  chief 
justice  were  in  the  gang.  Julius  Caesar 
brandished  his  broad  sword.  I  saw  the 
Eternal  stretch  forth  his  hand,  and  I  heard 
him,  mit  lauter  Stimme,  say  :  u  Accursed 
be  the  robbers  of  that  jewel !  '  I  saw  my 
dead  and  buried  son,  Joseph,  invested  in 
priest 's  robes,  standing  in  a  pulpit  on  a 
cloud  and  preaching  to  that  horde  of  sav- 
ages, the  chief  justice  and  the  congressman, 
with  a  voice  that  filled  the  whole  world .  He 
said  :  u  Be  good.  Read  the  Bible.  Eschew 
bar  rooms."  A  slave  said:  u  The  jewel  is 
of  great  value.  He  was  a  good  man.n 

The  Sublime— uEste  retrato  esun  gallo." 
Esta  burla  01  en  la  mesa  del  almuerzo  del 
sefior  Licenciado,  Don  Ignacio  de  Jaurigui. 


—  157  - 

(PLEASURE. 
I  deem  it  a  most  exquisite  pleasure  to 
lean  back  on  my  steps  and  gaze  at  the  ever 
varying  tints  in  the  white  clouds  by  moon- 
light. No  colors  of  art  or  from  the  painter's 
brush  can  equal  them.  The  soft,  milky 
white,  the  pale,  blended  red,  have  a  charm 
for  my  soul.  Many  a  night  have  I  passed 
the  silent  hours  in  total  relaxation  while 
enjoying  the  lavish  beauties  from  the  etern- 
al painter.  Ojala  that  the  great  beyond  of 
eternal  happiness  or  misery  might  not  be 
worse  !  An  airy  nothing.  Humbert  said  : 
"  It  is  nothing, n  non  c^eniente. 


—  158  — 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Jan.  3,  1901. 
Mr.  Ed.  T.  Manning,  Clerk  of  City  Council. 
Dear  Sir  :  I  am  glad  my  ordinance  pro- 
hibiting benches  and  seats  about  bar  rooms 
and  saloons  is  now  a  law.  Bnt  I  see  my 
ordinance  against  the  mosquitos  has  not 
passed  yet.  Trnly, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Aug.  24,  1901. 
Mr.  B.  Moran,  Clerk,  etc. 

Dear  Sir:  In  the  case  of  Jere  Jones,  nine 
if  not  ten  years  old,  who  committed  the  of- 
fence and  ran,  which  was  an  evidence  of 
guilt,  Judge  Hughes  was  too  impatient  to 
hear  the  4 '  whole  truth  ' ' ;  said  the  boy  was 
under  the  age  of  responsibility,  and  under- 
took to  catechise  me  on  the  law.  I  answered 
that  I  did  not  go  there  to  be  examined  on 
the  law,  but  to  give  testimony.  On  re- 
flection, I  have  concluded  to  give  him  the 
benefit  of  my  answer,  as  he  appears  to  be  a 
gentleman,  though  scant  of  knowledge,  and 


-    159  — 

he  may  mean  well.  He  wanted  to  know, 
while  giving  my  testimony,  if  I  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  penal  code  of  Louisiana. 
I  should  smile !  The  criminal  law  of  Loui- 
siana is  founded  on  the  common  law  of 
England.  I  leave  for  you  and  him  to  read  : 
Russell,  vol.  I,  pp.  i  to  i o,  by  which  you 
will  find  that  the  age  of  irresponsibility  is 
under  seven  years,  and  u  that  an  infant 
under  eight  years  old  may  be  guilty  of 
murder  and  shall  be  hanged  foi\it." 
Yours  truly, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 

THE  TREATING  HABIT. 

There  is  a  very  great  contrast  between 
the  manners  of  Mexicans  and  Americans. 
Good  manners  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  the 
Paris  of  America,  requires  high  and  low  not 
to  accept.  ' i  Will  yon  take  dinner  ?  "  "  No, 
gracias!  "  "Will  you  take  a  drink?' 
"  No,  gracias!  " 

Not    so   with    Americans.       They    hang 


—  160  — 

around  the  slums,  waiting  for  an  invitation. 
But  the  rule,  even  with  men  calling  them- 
selves gentlemen,  is,  not  to  conclude  any 
business  transaction  without  u  well,  let's 
have  a  drink."  Hence,  the  Mexicans  are 
sober  people  and  the  Americans  are  drunk- 
ards. 


CZOLGOSZ  (pronounced  Golgotha) 
CLEVELAND  SALOON. 

u  Shortly  after  coming  to  this  city  fifteen 
3^ears  ago,  Leon's  father  started  a  saloon, 
in  the  rear  of  which  was  a  small  building 
used  as  a  rendezvous  and  meeting  place  for 
a  dozen  or  fifteen  men  who  called  themselves 
anarchists.  Leon  was  too  young  to  be  a 
member  of  that  gang,  but  he  was  a  great 
listener  to  the  harangues  that  these  men  in- 
dulged in,  and  they  probably  had  some  effect 
on  his  youthful  mind." 


—  161  — 
HOODLUMS. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Mayor  of  New 
Orleans. 

Sir  :  As  an  old  citizen  and  knowing 
whereof  I  speak,  I  feel  it  a  duty  to  give  to 
you,  who  have  the  well  being  of  the  people 
in  your  keeping,  the  benefit  of  my  views. 

In  the  last  two  weeks,  homicides  of  two 
young  men,  one  twenty -nine  and  the  other 
twenty-six,  have  been  committed  in  bar 
rooms,  because  they  refused  to  pay  a  few 
cents  for  their  drinks.  A  more  reasonable 
remedy  would  have  been  to  have  had  them 
arrested,  as  they  were  not  wholly  re- 
sponsible when  badly  intoxicated.  How- 
ever, having  been  a  sufferer  from  drunken 
hoodlums  during  the  late  administration, 
I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  that  the  bar- 
keepers are  doing  some  good  by  the  exterm- 
ination of  the  drunken  ruffians,  who  habit- 
ually carry  their  loaded  pistols  to  the  terror 
of  good  people.  These  homicides  are  voted 


—  162  — 

all  right,  under  the  plea  that  they  are  justi- 
fiable in  self-defense.  But  whisky  is  at  the 
bottom  of  it  all.  If  the  facilities  for  drunk- 
enness had  been  fewer,  the  young  men 
might  have  been  saved. 

It  is  said  that  the  Filipinos  regard  with 
horror  the  civilization  of  Americans,  because 
they  have  established  six  hundred  bar- 
rooms in  Manila.  You  will  doubtless  agree 
that  it  would  be  better  for  New  Orleans  if 
every  grocery  bar  were  sunken  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Therefore,  it  behooves  your  admi- 
nistration to  raise  the  license  to  the  highest 
figure  in  its  power,  if  not  done  already. 
Truly, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 
July  and,  1900. 


WEBSTER  COKE. 
Truth  is  stranger  than  fiction. 

When  a  young  man  in  Princeton,  Ky., 
I  was  in  the  habit  of  playing  drafts  with  an 
old  lawyer,  who  was  a  friend  of  mine.  One 


163  — 

day,  when  there  was  a  lull  in  our  favorite 
game,  he  leaned  back  and  related  to  me  his 
troubles  in  raising  his  boy.  Said  he  (dijo)\ 
"  Webster  Coke  was  a  good,  practical  boy  in 
some  respects,  and  I  destined  him  for  the 
bar,  to  follow  me  in  my  practice  and  inherit 
my  library.  He  was  of  a  quick,  nervous 
temperament  and  his  capacity  appeared 
good  ;  but  he  made  but  little  progress  at 
school.  When  I  asked  the  teacher  what 
was  the  matter  and  if  he  lacked  ability,  he 
said  uno.n  Then  I  said  may  be  he  is  lazy, 
and  he  said  u  perhaps."  During  his  stay 
•in  the  primary  school  he  often  played  hooky, 
and  I  found  from  notes  in  my  diary  that  it 
happened  four  times,  just  at  New  Moon. 
'-Sir,  the  moon  has  more  influence  on  people 
than  is  generally  believed.  But  as  to 
strength  and  manliness,  Coke  was  hard  to 
ibeat.  He  would  be  a  soldier  boy  in  the  State 
j militia  in  spite  of  all  I  could  do,  for  I  knew 
it  would  interfere  with  his  course  at  college. 
IMy  ambition  was  for  Webster  to  graduate, 


—  164  — 

esteeming  it  a  great  honor.  At  last,  he  got 
into  the  class  of  belles  lettres,  and  there  he 
stuck.  Finally,  he  got  so  much  larger  than 
the  boys  of  his  class  that  he  was  ashamed, 
and  actually  quit  on  me,  and  had  cleared 
out  from  College  some  days  before  I  knew  it. 
Worse  than  that,  he  sold  my  latin  lexicon 
and  a  fine  copy  of  Horace,  which  I  prized 
because  it  had  been  presented  to  me  by  my 
professor  when  I  was  at  college.  He  want- 
ted  to  go  to  work,  and  I  was  surprised  one 
day  when  he  said  4  papa,  I  don't  want  to  be 
no  lawyer.  A  lawyer  is  one  long  bum  !  y 
Then,  I  saw  it  was  no  use  to  bother  anj^ 
longer  with  Webster  Coke.  But  I  said,  '  I 
am  no  millionaire,  what  will  you  do  ?•'  He 
said,  he  thought  he  would  be  a  civil  engineer 
and  he  is  all  right  now." 

We  then  adjourned  to  a  neighboring  coffee 
house  and  enjoyed  a  cup  of  chocolate. 


—  165  -  - 
CAPTAIN  CARTER  OK   THE  ARAB A. 

Captain  Carter  was  left  an  orphan  and 
his  account  of  the  end  of  his  father  and 
mother  was  tragical.  He  said  that  his  fa- 
ther and  grandfather  were  sea  captains,  and 
that  his  father  and  mother  were  lost  in  a 
storm  on  a  small  vessel  at  Yarmonth  or 
some  other  fishing  coast.  When  his  father 
saw  that  there  was  no  hope  against  the  vio- 
lence of  the  wind  he  took  his  mother  and 
lashed  her  to  the  foremast  and  then  lashed 
himself  to  another  mast  and  so  they  were 
both  fonnd  dead. 

He  worked  his  way  from  scrubbing  boy 
up,  and  was  often  rewarded  with  a  curse  or 
a  kick.  When  he  was  examined  for  a  cap- 
tain's commission  he  had  but  little  time  to 
spare  and  while  young  fellows  under  the 
civil  service  rules  had  difficulties,  he  had  no 
difficulty.  The  poor  boy  evolved  in  the 
sterling  man. 

The  greatest  intellect  is  reported  to    have 


—  166  — 

said:  "ubi  intenderis  ingenium,  valet\  si 
lubido  possidet  ea  dominatur,  animus  nihil 
valet"  But  the  poet,  with  some  difference , 
is  strong: 

*4  There  never  yet  was  human   power 
Which  could  evade,  if  unforgiven, 

The  patient  search  and  vigil  long 
Of  him  who  treasures  up  a   wrong. n 

On  the  voyage,  I  had  the  place  of  honor 
at  the  right  of  the  captain  at  table  and  Mil- 
ler, the  engineer,  occupied  the  lower  end. 
One  day  they  had  marmalade,  and  the  mate 
said,  uthe  chicken  said,  Marmalaid  (me).M 

We  ran  well  in  the  Gulf  stream,  over  200 
miles  in  24  hours,  but  afterwards  she  got 
slow,  and  when  they  spoke  of  the  forty  hun- 
dred horse  power,  I  remarked  that  if  they 
were  Texas  mustangs  I  hoped  they  would 
get  up  a  stampede.  Carter  looked  grum, 
but  the  twinkle  in  Miller's  eye  showed  that 
he  appreciated  the  joke. 

As  we  were  nearing  Bremerhaven,  the 
German  pilot  boarded  the  Akaba.  He  was 


—  167  — 

an  urbane  gentleman,  but  Carter  stood  off 
at  a  distance  without  saying  a  word.  The 
pilot  looked  at  two  old  compasses  on  the 
vessel  and  seemed  to  be  puzzled.  Then  he 
came  up  to  me  softly  and  asked  uis  the  com- 
pass right?"  I  said,  UO,  I  think  so!"  The 
captain  looked  daggers  and  the  voice  rolled 
out,  " don't  speak  to  the  pilot!"  I  went  ov- 
er to  him  and  said,  "Captain,  he  just  asked 
me  if  the  compass  was  right  and  I  said  I 
i  thought  so .  Carter  simply  answered :  ' '  You 
. don't  know." 

An  hour  afterwards  I  gave  him  a  copy  of 
my  book,  bade  him  good-bye  and  said  I 
hoped  he  would  overlook  my  mistake. 

Oh,"  said  he,  "that's  nothing."  Next 
year,  he  took  my  son  on  a  round  trip  to  En- 
gland from  Pensacola.  I  had  another  les- 
son about  talking  too  much  on  that  trip. 
Standing  on  the  front  of  a  street  car  on  the 
busy  part  of  the  street  Unter  den  Linden, 
and  asking  a  good  many  questions  about 
buildings,  the  good  humored,  sturdy,  Ger- 


—  168  — 

man   car   driver   looked    at   me    and     said, 
"Bleiben  Sie  schiveigsam!"  , 


THE  FARMER. 

I  was  born  in  Livingston  county,  Ken- 
tucky, and  my  father,  ever  remembered  and 
respected,  settled  on  a  farm  of  six  hundred 
acres,  one  hundred  being  cleared  and  the 
rest  woods,  which  was  partly  purchased  by 
him  and  partly  inherited  from  my  maternal 
grandfather,  Trimble,  who  had  emigrated 
from  South  Carolina.  That  place  was  in 
the  hills  of  Kentucky,  about  five  miles  from 
the  Ohio  river  on  the  big  road  to  the  West. 
When  I  was  a  boy,  about  1835,  the  wolves 
would  howl  in  the  night  in  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  house.  I  learn  now  that  there  are 
many  farms  on  that  land.  Farming  was 
primitive  in  that  region  then,  though 
they  say  that  there  is  now  a  great  change, 
and  that  German  methods  of  thrift  and  com- 
fort prevail  to  protect  man  and  beast  against 
the  cold:  It  makes  my  heart  ache  now 


—  169  — 

when  I  think  of  the  suffering  in  those  early 
days.  One  rainy  winter  night  my  good 
mother  said  to  me:  "You  ought  to  be  thank- 
ful that  God  has  given  you  a  warm  bed, 
when  the  beasts  of  the  field  have  no  shelter. M 
Man  should  be  a  God  to  the  beasts  of  the 
field.  The  horses  were  provided  for  in 
stables  with  clap  board  roofs  and  did  not  fare 
so  badly.  The  hogs  would  get  together 
fifteen  or  twenty  in  one  bed,  and  keep  com- 
fortable by  their  own  heat.  The  sheep  were 
protected  by  their  wool.  But  the  poor  cows! 
No  houses  or  sheds  were  made  for  them, 
though  it  would  have  been  easy  where  tim- 
ber was  so  plentiful.  Often  feed  for  cattle 
was-  scarce  and  in  the  winter  there  was  no 
grass.  They  would  get  very  lean,  thick 
mould  would  form  in  the  hair  on  their  backs 
and  a  kind  of  grubs  or  worms,  called  wolves, 
I  think,  would  plant  themselves  in  the  solid 
flesh  under  the  skin.  Again,  the  poor 
things  would  get  the  hollow  horn  for  want 
of  nourishment.  In  the  spring  of  the  year, 


—  170  — 

in  the  first  open  spell,  there  was  great  dan- 
ger of  the  cows  wandering  away  after  grass 
and  getting  lost.  I  remember  a  very  sad 
case. 

THE  cow. 

A  young  cow  for  her  first  calf  was 
missing  in  a  cold  spell  in  the  Spring, 
I  forget  her  name,  and  everybody  went 
in  a  search.  Two  or  three  miles  down 
a  branch,  I  fonnd  her  on  the  lift,  she  could 
not  get  up,  near  the  house  of  an  old  couple, 
noted  for  being  stingy.  They  had  seen  her 
there  from  the  beginning,  but  had  not  given 
her  a  mouthful  to  eat,  though  the  old  wo- 
man said  she  had  tried  to  save  the  calf, 
which  had  died.  The  mother  was  still  alive 
and  when  I  reported,  the  whole  family  went 
with  a  yoke  of  oxen  and  a  sled  to  bring  her 
home.  My  mother  reached  her  a  blade  of 
fodder,  and  I  well  remember  the  eager  reach 
she  made  for  it.  When  we  got  her  home  we 
swung  her  on  her  feet  and  made  every  effort 
to  save  her  life,  but  in  vain,  she  died,  starb. 


—  171  - 

Sometimes,  I  hate  to  think  of  these  things, 
people  are  so  much  like  other  animals. 
Farmers,  I  am  convinced,  should  consult 
their  almanacs  more  than  they  do.  The 
seasons  of  planting  and  reaping  depend  a 
great  deal  on  the  weather.  For  forty-six 
years  I  have  lived  in  cities,  but  in  a  small 
way  I  have  observed  the  sprouting  of  seeds 
and  the  growth  of  plants. 


—  172  — 
T.  J.  SEMMES — CHAS.  M.  EMERSON. 

When  Senator  Semmes  died,  a  great  deal 
was  said  about  him  and  about  what  he  said. 
As  soon  as  the  Confederacy  collapsed,  he 
went  to  President  Johnson  for  a  pardon  and 
when  asked  what  he  had  done,  he  said  he 
had  done  everything  in  his  power,  and  the 
president  told  him  to  "go  to  work."  He 
borrowed  $100.  Repeatedly,  in  after  years, 
he  said  he  had  always  done  what  he  thought 
was  right,  and  if  he  were  to  live  his  life  ov- 
er he  would  do  the  same  thing  again. 

Colonel  Emerson  was  a  veteran  of  the 
Mexican  war  and  was  in  the  battle  of  Palo 
Alto.  He  was  fond  of  describing  the  splen- 
did sight  of  the  orderly  advance  on  that  lev- 
el field  of  the  30,000  Mexican  cavalry  lan- 
cers. 

When  the  war  came  on  the  consensus  of 
opinion  was,  the  Confederacy  must  and 
shall  be  sustained.  The  law  firm  of  Emer- 
son in  New  Orleans  was  prominent  and  it 


—  173  — 

ras  thought  the  war  would  only  last  60 
days,  it  was  agreed  that  he  should  go  into 
the  Confederacy  and  that  his  partner  should 
take  care  of  the  law  business.  After  the 
war,  Emerson  was  poor  and  had  a  large  fami- 
ly of  children.  In  order  to  hold  the  office 
of  judge,  he  was  required  to  make  some  sort 
of  recantation.  Judge  Emerson  came  out 
in  a  card  in  a  newspaper  and  stated  that  he 
was  sorry  for  the  part  he  had  taken  in  the 
rebellion. 


CHRISTIAN  ROSELIUS — THOS.   J.    SEMMES. 

In  1 86 1,  I  was  sitting  on  the  upper  floor 
of  the  New  Orleans  City  Hall  listening  to 
the  debates  of  the  Secession  Convention. 
The  question  was  shall  the  ordinance  of  se- 
cession be  submitted  to  the  people.  Sem- 
mes  made  a  forcible  argument  against  it  and 
;said:  "We,  the  representatives,  are  thepeo- 
-ple,  we  are  the  quint  essence  of  the  people." 
iln  reply,  Roselius  said:  uThe  gentleman 
says  we  are  the  people,  we  are  the  quint  es- 


—  174  — 

sence  of  the  people!  I  should  like  to  know 
in  what  alembic  that  quint  essence  has  been 
distilled."  The  ordinance  was  not  submit- 
ted to  the  people.  Soon  after  that  Roselius 
quit  the  convention  and  went  home  for  good. 


HON.  J.    AD.    ROSIER, 

a  life-long  member  of  the  New  Orleans  bar, 
was  a  member  of  the  Secession  Convention. 
He  was  a  union  man  and  an  ardent  support- 
er of  the  Federal  government.  In  vain,  he 
tried  to  avert  the  storm  and  resist  the  decree 
of  fate.  He  said  in  one  of  his  speeches,  "I 
do  not  belong  to  the  torrid  zone,  nor  to  the 
frigid  zone,  but  to  the  temperate  zone. n 


-    175  — 


JAMES   BEGGS. 


On  the  ayth  of  March,  1857,  when  I  had 
partly  sown  my  wild  oats,  I  arrived  in  New 
Orleans  to  stay,  on  the  Empire  City  via 
Havana,  having  got  away  from  the  Fillibus- 
ters  in  Nicaragua  on  a  pass  from  William 
Walker  by  Panama.  After  being  admitted  to 
the  bar,  I  was  sent  by  my  partner,  Major 
Henry  St.  Paul,  to  Baton  Rouge  to  enter 
10,000  acres  of  cypress  lands.  At  that  time 
there  was  a  conspicuous  member  in  the  legis- 
lature from  Orleans  by  the  name  of  Beggs. 
He  was  rather  large,  well  formed  and  of  a 
reddish  complexion.  By  occupation  a  print- 
er, with  a  good  education  and  fine  voice  Mr. 
Beggs  occupied  a  great  deal  of  the  time  of 
the  house. 

The  war  came  on,  Beggs  went  out  of  Poli- 
tics and  totally  disappeared.  Years  after- 
wards, I  had  occasion  in  some  busines  mat- 
ter to  make  inquiries  about  him.  I  found 
him,  and  he  was  the  most  quiet,  unassum- 


—  176  — 

ing,  elderly  gentleman  I  ever  met.  He  fol- 
lowed his  trade  and  lived  in  complete  retire- 
ment. 

After  the  federal  occupation  in  1862,  Gen- 
eral Butler  ran  the  St.  Charles  hotel.  The 
old  structure  had  high,  Corinthean  pillars 
,  with  winding,  granite  stairways  leading  up 
to  the  open  rotunda  in  front. 

At  that  time  the  feeling  of  the  Confeder- 
ate population  was  very  bitter  against  the 
yankees  and  all  their  sympathisers.  Man}r 
men  in  New  Orleans  had  been  very  noisy 
rebels  until  the  Federals  arrived.  Then, 
they  went  forward  to  the  surprise  of  the  peo- 
ple, took  the  oath  and  joined  the  yankees. 

One  day,  an  old  friend  saw  Jim  Beggs  un- 
der the  stairs  of  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  busi- 
ly engaged  with  a  note  book  and  pencil. 
He  called  to  him,  u Hello,  Jim,  what  are  you 
doing?"  He  answered,  UI  am  putting 
down  the  names  of  these  fellows  in  my 
<S ab book." 


—  177  — 
THE  GAMBLER. 

Once  in  Mexico,  I  visited  my  friend  Don 
Miguel  del  Rio  y  Rio  and  read  over  to  him 
Mazeppa.  He  took  me  to  a  wardrobe  and 
showed  me  a  pile  of  $500  in  gold.  There  is 
a  village  sixteen  miles  from  the  city  where 
they  hold  a  carnival  of  Monte  every  year  for 
a  week.  He  said  that  he  had  just  won  that 
gold  there;  that  the  games  were  going  on 
then;  that  he  went  every  year  and  did  the 
same  thing;  and  that  he  always  took  a  cous- 
in to  stop  him  at  the  right  time  or  he  would 
lose  all.  I  had  in  my  pocket  an  ounce 
($16)  of  gold  that  I  had  earned  as  professor 
of  English  by  giving  eight  lessons  of  one 
hour  a  month.  I  said  nothing  but  secretly 
resolved  to  try  to  get  $500  too.  The  next 
stage  took  me  to  the  village  by  dark.  I  sat 
down  at  a  table  and  put  up  $4  and  won.  I 
put  up  $4  more  and  won  again.  Then  I 
lost  and  in  less  than  an  hour  my  ounce  of 
gold  was  gone.  I  had  no  money  for  lodging 


—  178  — 

but  slept  somewhere.  The  next  morning  it 
had  rained  and  walking  was  bad.  But  I 
made  the  trip.  When  I  got  home,  professor 
Hy polite  Copee  (we  had  rooms  together) 
laughed  at  me  and  said  "Je  nj  aurais  pas 
cru  ce  la  de  vous"  UA  burnt  child  dreads 
the  fire."  I  never  bet  again,  "you  bet." 


THE    SAW   MILL. 

I  suppose  I  must  have  been  about  seven- 
teen when  my  father  had  occasion  to  have 
some  lumber  sawed  at  an  old  time  saw  mill 
on  Deer  Creek,  Livingston  county,  Ken- 
tucky. The  long,  upright  frame  of  the 
straight  saw  allowed  the  log  to  pass  through 
on  the  carriage,  the  top  of  the  frame  coming 
down  to  two  or  three  feet  of  the  top  of  the 
log.  When  a  large  stock  had  been  squared 
and  the  saw  was  commencing  to  cut  planks 
on  one  side,  I  measured  the  situation  with 
the  eye  and  saw  that  there  was  room  to  take 
a  ride  on  the  wide  side  of  the  stock  by  lying 
straight  with  my  arms  close,  though  I  would 


have  to  meet  and  pass  in  a  few  inches  of  the 
saw.  No  sooner  resolved  than  executed. 
When  my  body  had  partly  passed  the  saw, 
my  father  discovered  me,  but  he  had  pres- 
ence of  mind  to  keep  quiet  and  look  on  'til 
I  got  safely  through.  He  said  nothing  to 
me  but  he  told  my  mother  about  it.  The 
remembrance  of  such  things  of  my  father 
makes  me  honor  him  more  and  more  as  he 
deserved  to  be.  Many  times  I  have  been 
near  death,  but  never  does  my  flesh  creep 
more  than  when  I  think  of  that  trial  of  the 
nerves,  not  even  when  I  think  of  the 
cold  steel  pointed  at  my  breast  and  I  said 
"strike." 


—  180  — 

THE  SCIENCES 

To  understand  the  sciences  theoretically 
and  not  practically  is  not  sufficient.  Chem- 
istry is  a  great  science,  but  to  have  read 
books  about  chemistry  and  even  to  have  at- 
tended a  course  of  lectures  without  practice 
in  the  laboratory  gives  very  imperfect  know- 
ledge. Therefore,  I  conceived  that  a  situ- 
ation in  a  drug  store  for  sometime  would  be 
beneficial  to  a  student.  Dr.  Franklin  for  a 
reading  man  and  a  self  made  man  must  have 
had  special  talent  for  chemical  investigation 
and  the  secrets  of  nature  which  led  up  to  his 
electrical  discoveries.  But  electricity  was 
everyday  talk  in  his  time  and  others  long 
before  had  compared  it  to  lightning.  Ba- 
con's experiments  were  laborious. 

Astronomy  is  a  grand  subject.  But  much 
reading  on  the  subject  as  now  understood 
only  gives  an  unsatisfactory  outline  of  the 
theory,  such  as  is  obtained  by  a  glance  at  a 
large  printing  press  or  other  great  machine. 


—  181  — 

It  takes  the  use  of  the  telescope  and  other 
practical  work  to  take  the  universe  to  pieces, 
a  la  logique  de  Condillac. 

The  earth  is  thought  to  be  the  most  solid 
of  the  planets.  Jupiter,  although  hundreds 
of  times  larger  than  the  earth ,  appears  to  be 
of  so  light  a  nature  that  it  is  doubtful  if  it 
is  inhabited.  Mars  is  of  firmer  material, 
and  though  smaller  than  the  earth  presents 
conditions  favorable  for  inhabitants.  The 
'Moon  always  presents  the  same  side  to  the 
lEarth  and  probably  to  the  Sun,  which  must 
make  it  hot  on  that  side.  It  has  no  air. 

But  the  fixed  stars  excite  our  wonder. 
|By  the  way,  I  never  could  understand  ex- 
actly the  example  put  by  Aristotle  in  his 
logic,  "The  star  is  fixed  because  it  twink- 
les, or,  it  twinkles  because  it  is  fixed. n 
Here,  again,  the  want  of  practice  with  in- 
struments and  practical  calculations  leaves 
as  very  much  in  the  dark  on  a  benighted 
subject.  We  learned  at  college,  geometry 
md  trigonometry.  We  can  form  a  triangle 


—  182  — 

on  the  Earth,  the  Moon  and  the  Sun,  anc 
we  can  calculate  (though  not  experts)  wit! 
reasonable  certainty  the  length  of  the  side 
from  the  Earth  to  the  Sun,  ninety  odd  mil- 
lions of  miles. 

But  when  we  get  out  of  the  Solar  System, 
and  consider  the  fixed  stars  as  centres  of  oth- 
er systems  beyond  number,  we  come  indeed 
to  infinity.  We  are  lost  in  a  maze  of  cre- 
ation upon  creation  utterly  beyond  the  scope 
of  our  pigmy  intellects. 


WONDERS    OF   CREATION. 

Mathematicians  calculate  the  distances  oi 
the  heavenly  bodies  by  means  of  the  trian- 
gle. The  square  described  on  the  hypothe- 
nuze  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  squares  de- 
scribed on  the  other  two  sides.  A  triangle 
formed  by  a  point  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  its  center  and  the  sun,  has  a  respect- 
able short  end  on  account  of  the  comparative 
nearness  of  the  sun.  But  when  such  a 
triangle  is  formed  to  a  fixed  star  of  great 


—  183  — 

distance,  the  two  long  sides  of  the  triangle 
are  nearly  parallel.  The  end  is  so  short  as 
to  be  almost  a  point.  Then  the  fnlcrum  of 
Archimedes  is  lacking  npon  which  to  place 
his  lever  to  remove  the  earth  and  the  dist- 
ance becomes  as  it  were  infinite. 

The  North  Star  is  distant  two  hundred 
and  fifty  billions  of  miles.  Therefore,  in 
considering  ourselves  with  reference  to  crea- 
tion, it  is  evident  that  each  one  of  us  could 
not  amount,  at  most,  to  more  than  the  one 
ten  thousandth  part  of  a  gnat.  It  is  said 
that  one  of  the  stars  in  the  Dipper,  being  a 
fixed  star,  is  a  sun  and  many  times  larger 
than  our  sun.  As  to  time,  there  is  an  in- 
finity ante  and  an  infinity  post.  There  is 
;an  infinity  of  extension  and  an  infinity  of 
!>  creation. 

THE   SUN. 

The  center  of  our  system,  according  to 
astronomers,  is  an  immense  body.  It  is  a 
; globe  and  its  diameter  is  850,000  miles. 


—  184  — 

The  substance,  itself,  is  thought  to  be  an 
ever  changing  fiery  mass  of  electricity  and 
combustible  matter.  How  its  heat  can 
travel  so  far,  95,000,000  of  miles,  and  heat 
the  earth,  as  it  does,  may  be  a  subject  of 
doubt.  Heat,  light,  electricity  and  motion 
appear  not  to  be  well  understood.  We  know 
that  in  the  top  stratum  of  our  atmosphere 
it  is  very  cold.  May  it  not  be  that  by  some 
chemical  action  of  the  perpendicular  rays  of 
light  striking  our  atmosphere  and  earth 
heat  is  then  and  there  generated,  without 
being  transmitted  the  whole  way  through 
space  by  the  mass  of  heat  directly  from  the 
sun  ? 

The  Peruvians,  according  to  Prescott,  were 
a  wonderful  race.  The  Inca  was  descended 
from  the  sun.  The  modern  or  principal 
god  was  the  sun.  The  monarch  belonged 
to  a  sacred  face  and  was  married  to  his  own 
sister.  The  other  marriages  were  made 
once  a  year  by  wholesale  in  the  public 
square  simply  by  the  hand  of  the  bride  being 


—  185  — 

placed  in  that  of  the  bridegroom  by  the  Inca 
or  the  governor. 

It  would  seem  that  the  worship  of  the 
sun  was  well  rewarded.  The  whole  country 
was  in  a  wonderfully  perfect  state  of  culti- 
vation, far  better  than  it  has  ever  been 
under  the  Spaniards.  Canals  of  irrigation 
permeated  the  whole  country.  All  bridges 
were  in  order.  Government  stores  were 
found  at  regular  stations.  There  being  no 
iron  used  in  the  country,  the  Spaniards  had 
to  shoe  their  horses  with  silver. 

The  sun  is  about  one  million  and  a  quar- 
ter times  larger  than  our  earth.  His 
mass  is  said  to  be  about  750  times  larger 
than  all  his  planets,  Mercury,  Venus, 
Earth,  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  etc. 


THE  MOON. 
The  moon  is  a  dark  body  and  shines   by 
light  reflected  from  the  sun.     It  is  distant 
near  a  quarter  of  a 'million   of   miles.     Its 
diameter  is  a  little  over  2000   miles.     She 


—  186  — 

always  shows  us  the  same  side.  "And  he 
said,  wherefore  wilt  thou  go  to  him  to- 
day ?  It  is  neither  New  Moon ,  nor  Sab- 
bath." 

A    MEDICAL    OPINION. 

A  young  man,  29  years  of  age,  with  fine 
commercial  prospects,  a  loving  mother  and 
many  friends  suffered  from  pains  in  the  ab- 
domen. The  surgeons  consulted  and  con- 
cluded that  he  was  afflicted  with  appen- 
dicitis. X  rays  were  not  resorted  to  or  did 
no  good.  He  went  voluntarily  to  the  hos- 
pital and  was  operated  upon.  They  opened 
his  side  and  took  out  his  entrails,  but  found 
that  he  had  no  appendicitis  at  all.  His  in- 
testines wrere  ulcerated.  They  cut  out  eight 
or  ten  inches  of  the  part  and  sewed  up  the 
ends.  Four  days  after  he  was  dead  and 
they  made  an  autopsy  and  discovered  that 
they  had  made  the  mistake  of  not  cutting 
from  the  diseased  bowel  several  inches 
more.  In  the  opinion  of  the  author,  he 


—  187  — 

might  have  been  cured  by  light,  long,  con- 
tinued purging  with  castor  oil  or  other 
medicine.  Oil  is  especially  soothing,  cura- 
tive and  molifying  in  young  children.  The 
same  treatment  has  often  been  successful  in 
paralysis  and  might  be  in  cases  of  supposed 
cancers  on  full  blooded  bodies.  But  the 
trend  of  modern  theory  is  opposed  to 
purging  and  doubtless  it  is  not  good  in 
cases  of  old  people  and  wasted  systems.  In 
cases  like  that  of  the  young  man  and  in 
supposed  cancers  where  nature  is  trying  to 
throw  off  disease,  and  in  all  cases  of  inflam- 
ation  and  imposthumes,  starvation  should 
be  a  sovereign  remedy. 

But  the  religious  view  of  life  is  the  best. 
'The  young  man's  troubles  are  over,  u  que 
locum  curae  neque  g audio  ne  esse  ultra. '* 
.All  things  are  for  the  best.  The  beehive  is 
a  wonderful  creation  and  destruction.  The 
bee  lives  forty  days,  the  queen  three  or  four 
years.  She  is  the  goddess.  But  the  male 
courtiers,  at  times,  are  most  sadly  treated. 


—  188  — 

Let  us  return,  however,  to  the  diagnosis  of 
the  case.  Gil  Bias,  Lesage,  or  whoever  he 
was,  had  a  wholesome  fear  of  doctors.  For 
those  who  like  to  live,  give  nature  a  chance  ! 
Beware  of  the  knife  ! 


—  189  — 
THE   PARROT. 

Once,  in  Mexico,  I  was  sitting  before  my 
room  on  the  narrow  gallery  of  the  second 
story  facing  the  patio  (coftrt  yard)  when  I 
heard  a  disagreeable,  ngly  barking  of  a  dog 
above,  as  I  thought.  Looking  np,  I  discov- 
ered a  parrot  in  his  cage  at  the  head  of  the 
stairs  of  the  story  above.  One  afternoon, 
while  reading,  I  found  him  by  me  on  the 
bannister.  He  had  come  down  to  make  me 
a  visit  and  was  very  friendly.  He  got  on 
my  chair,  sat  on  my  shoulder  and  appeared 
to  want  to  communicate  something.  Then 
he  marched  away,  with  dignity.  He  never 
did  that  before,  nor  afterwards.  That  night 
there  was  a  terrific  earthquake.  Two 
Frenchmen  jumped  out  from  the  next  room 
with,  u  mon  Dieu!  Que  ce  qiSil  y  a?"  The 
"earth  swung  blind."  That  conduct  was 
positive  proof  to  me  that  birds  know  when 
the  earthquake  is  coming. 


—  190  — 

NIAGARA. 

AN  ODE  LITERACY  TRANSLATED   FROM    HEREDIA, 
THE  CUBAN  BYRON,  BY  W.  W.  HANDUN. 

Tune  my  lyre,  give  it  me /I  feel 
Inspiration  in  my  trembling 
And  agitated  soul.     Oh  !  how  long 
I  slept  in  darkness,  ere  thy  light 
Illumined  my  brow  !     Wavy  Niagara, 
Thy  sublime  terror  alone  could 
Restore  me  the  divine  gift,  which,  enraged, 
The  impious  hand  of  sorrow  tore  from  me. 

Prodigious  torrent,  be  still,  hush 
Thy  terrific  thunder:    dissipate  somewhat 
The  utter  darkness  which  encircles  thee, 
Let  me  contemplate  thy  face  serene, 
And  with  ardent  enthusiasm  fill  my  soul. 
I  am  worthy  to  contemplate  thee:  ever 
Disdaining  the  low  and  the  mean, 
I  yearned  for  the  terrible  and  sublime. 
At  the  loud  roar  of  the  furious  hurricane, 
At  the  burst  of  the  thunderbolt  before  my  face, 
Palpitating  I  rejoiced:     I  saw  the  ocean, 
Scourged  by  the  tempestuous  south  wind, 
Beat  upon  my  bark,  and  at  my  feet 
I  saw  the  whirling   vortex  yawn,  and  loved  the 

danger. 
But  the  fierceness  of  the  sea 


—  191  — 

Produced  not  in  my  soul 

The  profound  impression  which  does  thy  grandeur. 

Serene  thou  runnest,  majestic;  and  soon 
Broken  amid  rugged  cliffs, 
Violent,  headlong  thou  hurl'st  thyself, 
Like  destiny,  irresistible  and  blind. 
What  human  voice  can  describe 
The  roaring  Syrtis' 
Frightful  front?     My  soul 
On  beholding  that  fervid  stream, 
Which,  in  vain,  the  disturbed  vision  endeavors 
To  follow  in  its  flight  to  the  dark  brink 
Of  the  deepest  precipice;  a  thousand  waves, 
Passing  as  rapid  as  thought, 
Dash,  and  infuriate  themselves, 
And  other  thousands  meet  them  there, 
And,  amid  foam  and  roar,  they  disappear. 

See!  they  come,  they  bound  !  the  horrible  abyss 
Devours  the  headlong  torrents  : 
A    thousand  rainbows  cross  themselves,  and   the 
deaf  en 'd 

Woods  return  the  tremendous  sound. 

On  the  inflexible  rocks 

The  water  rushes:    the  vaporous  cloud, 

With  elastic  power, 

Fills  the  abyss  in  the  whirlpool,  rises, 

Whirls  around  and  raises 

To  the  ether  a  luminous  pyramid: 


—  192  - 

Through  the  surrounding  mountains 
The  solitary  huntsman  is  astounded. 

But  what  does  my  longing  vision  seek  in  thee 
With  vain  endeavor?  why  do  I  not  see, 
Around  thy  immense  cavern, 
The  palm  trees?  ah  !  the  delightful  palms, 
Which,  in  the  plains  of  my  burning  soil, 
Are  born  from  the  smile  of  the  sun,  and  grow, 
And,  at  the  breath  of  the  ocean's  breezes, 
They  wave  'neath  the  purest  sky. 

In  spite  of  me  this  memory  conies 

Oh  Niagara  !    naught  is  wanting  to  thy  destiny  ; 

No  crown  but  the  humble  pine  tree 

To  thy  terrible  majesty  is  due. 

The  palm,  the  myrtle  and  the  delicate  rose, 

Inspire  soft  pleasure  and  sweet  repose 

In  the  frivolous  garden;  for  thee  dame  fortune 

Had  a  worthier  object  —  sublimity. 

The  free,  strong,  generous  soul 

Comes,  sees  thee,  is  astounded, 

Despises  mean  delight, 

And  is  even  elevated  when  thou  art  named. 

Omnipotent  God  !  in  other  climes 
I  saw  execrable  monsters, 
Blaspheming  thy  most  holy  name, 
Sowing  error  and  impious  fanaticism, 
Inundating  plains  with  blood  and  tears, 
Stirring  up  brothers  to  impious  war, 


—  193  — 


Madly  desolating  the  land. 

I  saw  them,  and  at  their  sight  my  heart  was  in- 
flamed 

With  grave  indignation.     On  one  side 
I  saw  lying  philosophers,  who  dared 
To  scrutenize  thy  mysteries,  to  outrage  thee, 
And  with  impiety,  to  the  lamentable  abyss 
They  dragged  the  miserable  men. 
For  this  my  feeble  mind  has  sought  thee 
In  sublime  solitude.     Now  it  is 
Wholly  opened  to  thee.     Thy  hand  feels 
In  the  immensity  which  surrounds  me, 
And  thy  profound  voice  wounds  my  soul 
With  this  great  torrent's  eternal  thunder. 

Wonderful,  amazing  stream  ! 
How  thy  sight  enraptures  my  mind, 
And  fills  me  with  terror  and  admiration  ! 
Where  is  thy  origin  ?     Who  has  nourished, 
For  so  many  ages,  thy  inexhaustible  source  ? 
What  all-powerful  hand 
Stays  thy  awful  entrance 
From  overwhelming  the  ocean  ? 

The  lyOrd  opened  His  omnipotent  hand; 
He  covered  thy  face  with  trembling  clouds, 
Gave  his  voice  to  thy  precipitous  waters, 
And  adorned  with  his  bow  thy  terrible  brow. 
Blind,  deep,  indefatigable  thou  runnest, 
As  the  dark  torrent  of  centuries 
In  unfathomable  eternity  !     From  man, 


—  194  — 

So  fly  his  pleasing  illusions, 

His  most  flourishing  days, 

And  he  awakes  to  sorrow  !     Alas  !   my  youth 

Lies  parched,  my  face  is  withered, 

And  the  deep  grief,  which  agitates  me, 

Wrinkles  my  brow  with  clouded  sorrow. 

Never,  as  this  day,  have  I  so  felt 
My  solitude  and  miserable  abandonment, 
My  lamentable  friendlessness      Can  I, 
In  my  stormy  life, 

Without  love  be  happy  ?     Oh  !   if  some  fair  one 
Should  fix  my  affection, 
And  to  the  turbid  border  of  this  abyss, 
My  wandering  thought 
And  ardent  admiration  accompany, 
How  I  would  rejoice,   on  seeing  her  cover  herself 
With  gentle  pallor,  and  become  more  beautiful 
In  her  sweet  terror,  and  smile 
When  sustained  in  my  loving  arms. 
Virtuous  delirium  !     Alas  !  banished, 
Without  love,  without  a  home; 
Tears  and  sorrows  alone,  I  see  before  me. 

All  powerful  Niagara  ! 
Adieu  !  adieu  !  within  a  few  short  years 
The  cold  tomb  shall  have  devoured 
Thy  feeble  singer.     May  my  verses  last, 
As  thy  immortal  glory.     May  some  pious 
Traveler,  on  beholding  thee, 
Give  one  feeble  sigh  for  my  poor  memory  ! 


—  195  — 

And   when   the   fiery  Phebus  is  engulfed  in   the 

West, 

Happy,  may  I  fly  where  my  Maker  calls  me, 
And,  on  listening  to  the  echoes  of  my  fame, 
Raise  on  the  clouds  my  radiant  brow. 


BARBARISM    AND    THE    PRESS. 
(This  Item  of  News  is  reported). 

"Barrundia,  the  Guatemalan  revolution- 
ist, was  captured  and  shot  on  board  an 
American  Steamer  passing  the  port  of  San 
Jose  de  Guatemala,  while  resisting  arrest. 
The  captain  of  the  vessel  had  consented  to 
his  extradition  to  the  officers  of  Barillas, 
which  meant  death  to  him,  and  he  resisted 
arrest." 

It  is  well  known  that  in  the  countries 
South  of  us,  they  are  accustomed  to  shoot 
their  prisoners.  In  our  own  country,  the 
United  States,  it  is  not  necessary  to  un- 
dertake to  convince  any  person  that  pris- 
oners of  war  are  entitled  to  the  protection 
of  their  lives.  To  take  the  life  of  a  help- 
less, unresisting  prisoner  is  murder.  This 


—  196  — 

is  so  universally  admitted  in  this  country, 
that  the  poorest  and  most  ignorant  soldier 
would  respect  the  sanctity  of  his  prison- 
er's life.  But  for  an  educated  and  civil- 
ized officer  to  shoot  a  prisoner  would  ren- 
der him  execrable  in  the  sight  of  his  fel- 
low men. 

This  principle  was  so  well  understood  in 
our  late  civil  war  between  the  States,  which 
lasted  five  years,  that  it  is  not  within  our 
memory  that  ever  an  officer  of  the  army  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  or  an  officer 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  could  be  pre- 
vailed upon  to  shoot  his  prisoner  in  cold 
blood.  But  this  principle  is  recognized  by 
the  law  of  nations.  In  all  the  great  nations 
of  Europe  and  Asia  the  life  of  a  prisoner  of 
war  is  respected. 

While  this  is  so,  and  while  we  boast  of 
the  advancement  of  civilization,  which  we 
assume  to  have  extended  to  all  the  world 
except  the  cannibal  islands,  right  here, 
under  our  very  eyes,  this  horrid  practice  of 


—  197  — 

shooting  defenceless  prisoners  of  .war  in  cold 
blood  is,  and  has  been  carried  on  in  Mexico, 
Central  America  and  a  great  part  of  South 
America.  It  is  not  in  cannibal  islands,  it 
is  not  in  ignorant  and  savage  nations  that 
this  is  done,  but  it  is  in  lands  where  the 
language  of  Cervantes  is  spoken  and  writ- 
ten in  all  its  beauty  and  splendor. 

Let  the  American  press  thunder  against 

[;this  inhuman  and  uncivilized  practice  of 
murdering  prisoners  of  war  in  cold  blood. 
Let  them  pray  their  brother  editors  of 
Spanish  America  to  publish  their  edito- 
rials on  the  subject,  and  if  they  are  unable 
to  translate  them  into  Spanish,  we  will  do 

ut  for  them.  Let  those  same  Spanish  edi- 
tors translate  and  publish  this  article  in 
the  name  of  humanity,  in  the  name  of 
chivalry. 

A  notable  case,  that  of  the  filibuster 
William  Walker.  The  enemy,  the  Hon- 
durians,  were  not  able,  after  considerable 
fighting,  to  capture  Walker,  who  was 


—  198  — 

among  the  bravest  of  the  brave.  They 
applied  to  a  British  man-of-war  lying  off 
the  coast  for  assistance.  It  was  useless  to 
resist,  and  Walker  surrended  to  the  British 
captain.  This  officer  delivered  his  prisoner 
of  war  to  the  enemy  who  had  been  unable  to 
conquer  him  in  a  fair  field,  and  Walker  was 
taken  from  on  board  the  British  man-of-war 
and  carried  to  land  by  the  Hondurians  and 
shot.  The  jackal  followed  the  lion. 

What  became  of  that  British  captain?  He 
sank  into  disgrace  and  infamy.  The  Brit- 
ish government  did  not  countenance  the 
personal  treachery  of  the  infamous  captain 
of  the  man-of-war. 

So  may  all  traitors  perish!  Any  man  who 
withdraws  his  protection  from  his  guest — 
from  one  whom  he  is  bound  in  honor  to 
protect — is  a  base  traitor. 

But  what  is  gained,  by  this  practice  of 
shooting  prisoners  of  war  on  both  sides? 
We,  ourselves,  have  seen  a  brave  colonel  of 
Guatemala  and  talked  with  him  in  his  own 


—  199  — 

tongue,  who  was  shot  under  the  lex  talionis 
because  Lennes,  a  prisoner  of  war,  had  been 
butchered.  He  knew  his  doom,  and  was 
resigned  to  die.  We  were  so  shocked  at 
the  horrid  practice,  however  it  seemed 
justified  in  that  case,  that  we  could  not 
witness  the  execution,  though  opportunity 
offered. 

Juan  Diaz  de  Corvarrubias,  the  young 
Mexican  poet,  with  17  other  medical  stu- 
dents, were  shot,  because  they  dared  to  go 
out  and  dress  the  wounds  of  the  rebels  who 
fell  in  the  battle  near  Tacabaya. 

The  writer  knew  all  the  martyred  pris- 
oners personally,  as  well  as  the  poet  Juan 
Diaz  de  Corvarrubias. 


WILLIAM   WALKER. 


There  was  a  period  called  the  Walker 
administration  in  Nicaragua.  William 
Walker  and  other  Americans  went  to  Nica- 
ragua. At  that  time  a  civil  war  was  raging 


—  200  — 

between  two  parties,  each  contending  for  the 
exclusive  possession  of  the  government. 

Walker  and  those  other  Americans 
formed  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  one  of  the 
parties,  and  after  considerable  fighting  that 
party  was  successful,  and  a  single  govern- 
ment was  established,  with  Walker  as  one 
of  the  ministers.  The  property  of  certain 
defeated  rebels  was  seized,  confiscated  and 
sold.  Possibly  but  few  of  those  deeds  or 
claims  are  in  existence  now.  An  Ameri- 
can minister,  Wheeler,  resided  there  during 
the  Walker  government.  On  account  of 
some  disagreement,  and  by  a  coup  cTktat,  or 
in  some  other  way,  Walker  became  Presi- 
dent. His  government  held  the  State  in- 
ternally, but  the  other  four  Central  Amer- 
ican States  formed  an  alliance,  and  made 
Avar  against  Walker  and  all  Americans,  and 
finally  expelled  them  from  Nicaragua. 

A  question  arises  whether  Americans 
acquiring  rights  bona  fide  are  entitled  to 


—  201  — 

protection,  having  been  expelled  by  exter- 
nal force. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  Feb.  21,  1879. 
HON.  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: — Your  postal  card  with  refer- 
ence to  Nicaragua  was  duly  received.  You 
advertised  for  claims  of  Americans,  and  the 
question  is  whether  those  arising  under  the 
administration  of  President  William  Wal- 
ker will  be  entertained.  The  history  was 
about  this:  Walker  and  other  Americans 
went  to  Nicaragua.  A  civil  war  was  ra- 
ging between  two  parties  contending  for  the 
exclusive  possession  of  the  government. 
Those  Americans  formed  a  treaty  of  alli- 
ance with  one  of  the  parties,  and  after  con- 
siderable fighting  that  party  was  successful 
and  a  single  government  was  formed,  with 
Walker  as  one  of  the  ministers.  The  prop- 
erty of  certain  defeated  rebels  was  seized, 
confiscated,  and  sold.  But  few  of  those 


—  202  — 

deeds  or  claims  are  in  existence  now.  An 
American  minister,  Wheeler,  resided  in 
Nicaragua  at  the  time.  On  account  of  some 
disagreement,  or  by  a  coup  denial,  or  some 
other  way,  Walker  became  President,  the 
resident  American  minister  recognizing 
him.  His  government  was  able  internally 
to  hold  the  State,  but  the  other  four  Cen- 
tral American  States  formed  an  alliance, 
made  war  against  all  Americans ,  and  finally 
expelled  them  from  the  count ry.  It  does 
not  seem  an  unreasonable  proposition  to  me 
that  Americans  acquiring  rights  bona  fide 
under  those  circumstances  should  be  indem- 
nified for  their  losses,  when  those  rights 
have  been  lost  by  external  force. 

I  am,  Sir,  Your  Obedient  Servant, 

W.  W.  HANDIJN. 


—  203  — 
THE   SCIENCES   AND   THE   BIBLE. 

Our  account  of  the  creation  shows  that 
the  Earth  is  the  oldest  and  entitled  to  the 
greatest  dignity,  and  that  all  the  rest  is 
subservient  to  it.  .  Its  density  and  specific 
gravity  are  the  greatest.  The  dry  land 
i  was  divided  from  the  waters.  After  the  ma- 
terial creation,  the  greater  and  the  less 
lights,  and  also  the  stars,  were  set  in  the 
firmament.  Science  proves  the  same  thing, 
to- wit:  that  outside  of  the  earth,  in  the 
solar  system,  all  else  was  created  subse- 
quently to  the  earth.  By  astronomy,  we 
learn  that  the  other  planets  are  much  less 
solid  than  the  earth,  and  unable,  doubtless, 
to  support  animal  life. 

Mars,  the  most  solid  after  the  Earth,  is 
thought  to  be  inhabited;  but  Jupiter,  two  or 
more  hundred  times  larger  in  size,  is  in  sub- 
stance light. 

Geology  teaches  us  by  the  strata  of  the 
earth,  and  the  fossil  remains  of  monstrous 


-  204  - 

and  unknown  animals  found  therein,  that 
the  Earth  is  so  old  that  its  age  is  mere  guess 
work.  Therefore,  the  existence  and  union 
of  souls  with  bodies  on  Earth  is  more  likely 
than  in  any  other  point  in  the  universe. 

CHRIST. 

Whether  Christ  be  God  or  not,  may  well 
be  doubted  by  man.  But  that  His  doctrine 
of  love  and  goodness  is  immortal,  admits  of 
no  doubt  whatever.  His  doctrine  will 
doubtless  overspread  the  earth.  Already 
the  Christian  nations  are  sizing  up  and  pre- 
paring to  divide  pagan  China  and  Africa. 
The  shame  and  scandal  of  Christians  are 
the  hatreds  and  divisions  of  the  Christians 
against  each  other. 

The  burnings  at  the  stake  afford  pitiful 
examples  of  the  weakness  of  poor  human 
nature.  But  this  it  is  conceived  affords  no 
objection  to  the  teachings  of  the  Master.  It 
was  the  work  of  the  devil. 

The  polemic  genius  of  Ingersoll,  it  is  said, 


—  205  — 

did  great  harm,  but  it  was  because  he  was 
unable  to  suggest  anything  better  than  the 
Church  founded  by  Christ  on  the  rock.  The 
poetic  and  mystic  Koran  cannot  be  compared 
to  the  teachings  of  Christ.  Christ  taught 
monogamy, — Mahomet  established  polyga- 
my. Since  the  foundation  of  the  world 
there  has  never  been  anything  equal  to  the 
divine  teachings  of  love  and  goodness  by 
the  Savior.  Of  course  his  testament  is  not 
responsible  for  the  feligious  wars  and  the 
burnings  at  the  stake.  They  were  the  work 
of  the  devil.  The  devil  works  on  man  prin- 
cipally in  dreams.  And  yet  again  it  would 
seem  that  the  different  se6ls  of  Christians 
of  the  present  day  are  salutary  checks  upon 
each  other,  and  their  mutual  criticisms  pre- 
vent abuses.  But  the  consensus  of  Chris- 
tian opinion  has  brought  about  the  pres- 
ent humane  and  civilized  practices,  both 
in  war  and  in  peace.  Divine  creations 
have  been  recognized  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world.  The  speech  of  Cicero  against 


—  206  — 

Mark  Antony  was  called  divine  by  the  peo- 
ple. The  period  of  the  early  Christians  was 
strange  and  peculiar.  Were  they  insane? 
"Paul,  thon  art  beside  thyself  !"  History 
admits  that  God  has  visited  his  creatures,  or 
that  at  certain  times  there  have  been  Divine 
visitations  on  earth. 

A  good  witness  as  to  Christ's  divinity  is 
the  "Immortal  Daniel."  (Webster.)  The 
inscription  on  his  tomb  at  Marshfield,  Mass., 
as  seen  and  remembered,  states  that  in  his 
youth  he  was  inclined  to  infidelity,  but  that 
in  later  years,  when  he  reflected  on  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  he  was  constrained  to 
believe  that  it  could  only  have  emanated 
from  God.  The  most  that  infidels  can  say 
is:  "We  do  not  know.  Christ  may  be  God; 
it  is  not  impossible."  But  that  His  divine 
creation  will  continue  to  be  immortal,  can 
hardly  be  questioned. 


—  207  — 
A  PRAYER. 

O  God !  May  it  please  Thee  to  look  with 
compassion  upon  our  weaknesses,  and  to 
forgive  our  sins.  I  pray  for  all  the  living 
and  the  dead.  Divine  Father,  may  it  please 
Thee  to  remember  the  good  that  I  have 
done,  and  to  forget  the  evil.  Lord,  have 
mercy  upon  us;  we  submit  to  thy  will. 
Amen  ! 


—  208  — 
A  POLITICAL  LETTER. 

New  Orleans,  June  i,  1874. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Picayune : 

Dear  Sir — Considering  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  all  who  have  an  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  our  State  and  intend  to  stay  here,  as 
I  do,  to  offer  any  suggestions  which  may 
occur  to  them,  I  avail  myself  of  that  liberty. 

For  the  next  election  the  most  natural 
division  of  parties  in  Louisiana  is  into 
white  and  black.  Democratic  party,  Re- 
publican party,  are  terms  inapplicable  to 
this  State,  and  the  two  parties  should  be 
divided,  not  from  prejudice  or  passion,  but 
from  the  nature  of  the  population,  as  it 
exists.  Any  other  division  adds  strength 
to  the  African  race  and  enables  it  to  pre- 
dominate. Divide  and  conquer,  say  they  ; 
and  so  far  they  have  succeeded. 

The  white  party  is  a  broad  banner  under 
whose  folds  all  conflicting  opinions  may  be 
rallied.  We  whites  here,  as  in  Virginia, 


—  209  — 

should  accept  as  a  lesson  the  unity  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  colored  race,  by  which  in  this 
State,  with  Federal  intervention,  they  have 
obtained  full  control.  From  the  present 
great  numbers  and  the  arrogance  of  the 
negroes,  all  the  white  races,  French,  Irish, 
Germans,  Spaniards,  Italians,  Cubans, 
Jews,  Chinese  and  Americans,  are  naturally 
and  irreconcilably  their  political  enemies. 
Either  the  negroes  must  control  here  or  the 
white  races.  If  the  former,  let  us  not  be 
convinced  of  the  fact  without  doing  all  that 
can  be  done  to  prevent  it,  and  then  it  will 
be  time  enough  to  retire  and  submit  to  ex- 
cessive taxation  without  representation 
either  of  the  wealth  or  talent  of  the  State. 

Care  should  be  taken  in  all  the  parishes 
to  select  a  pure  white  conservative  ticket, 
of  the  most  meritorious,  wealthy  or  talented 
men,  and  it  might  be  that  even  some  col- 
ored men  would  vote  for  such  a  ticket,  with 
the  assurance  that  afterwards  they  would  be 
considered  as  friends  and  not  as  enemies. 


—  210  — 

In  this  way,  although  there  would  necessa- 
rily be  a  large  colored  representation,  it  is 
likely  the  whites,  who  own  nearly  all  the 
property,  would  have  a  controlling  majority 
in  the  Legislature,  which  would  be  best — 
even  for  the  negro  laborers,  who  cannot 
prosper  unless  the  substantial  interests  of 
the  State  are  protected  by  wise  and  incor- 
ruptible legislators. 

United  opposition  by  the  whites  is  justi- 
fied, not  on  the  ground  of  hatred  to  the  ne- 
groes, but  because  they  are  unfit.  There 
are  but  few  pure  blacks  who  are  capable  of 
or  who  even  aspire  to  be  candidates,  while 
heretofore  their  notorious  and  unscrupulous 
leaders  could  always  be  bought  for  a  trifle. 
Reformers  and  unifiers  have  failed.  Vain 
efforts !  No  confidence  attaches  to  either 
side  from  such  unnatural  combinations. 
There  is  no  way  to  put  down  negro  domina- 
tion except  by  a  bold  stand.  A  united  front 
of  all  the  white  races  will  be  respected,  and 
their  opponents  will  abandon  their  unjust 


—  211  — 

pretention,  —  not  to  participate,  but  to  gov- 
ern. And  should  it  continue,  the  whites 
will  be  justified  in  non-intercourse,  as  far 
as  possible,  and  in  preferring  those  of  their 
own  race  in  all  the  dealings  of  private  life; 
and  the  end  will  show  who  are  to  rule. 

Although  physical  violence,  which  has 
done  so  much  harm,  should  be  constantly 
deprecated,  no  quarter,  politically,  should 
be  granted.  And  since  the  most  unscrupu- 
lous means  have  been  used  to  blight  the 
fair  hopes  of  our  people,  by  elevating  an  ig- 
norant  class  to  power,  every  lawful  means  of 
peaceable  retaliation  should  be  resorted  to 
in  order  to  defeat  the  enemies  of  public  wel- 
fare. The  exorbitant  and  unjust  taxes  here- 
tofore imposed,  many  persons  are  unwilling 
or  unable  ever  to  pay;  but  with  representa- 
tion and  economy  in  the  future,  the  property 
holders  would  doubtless  cheerfully  pay  ev- 
ery dollar  of  a  low  rate  of  taxation. 

Let  a  constitutional  convention  be  called, 
mainly  to  regulate  suffrage,  and  consider 


first  the  clause  found  in  the  constitution  of 
Massachusetts,  which  is  as  follows:  u Ev- 
ery member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  be  chosen  by  written  votes."  Paupers 
and  persons  under  guardianship  cannot 
vote. 

It  is  likely  that  most  persons  now  believe 
that  we  have  had  enough  of  negro  rule,  and 
though  they  may  not  sympathize  with  the 
Southern  Democrats,  they  would  doubtless 
prefer  a  government  even  of  the  old  stock 
of  Southern  gentlemen. 

We,  who  were  considered  Republicans, 
and  yet  voted  for  John  McEnery,  did  so  not 
because  he  was  a  Democrat,  or  a  friend  of 
Warmouth,  but  because  we  were  tired  of 
strangers, — those  pseudo  Republicans  who 
are  altogether  unlike  the  honest  Republi- 
can masses  at  the  North.  Their  principal 
object  is  unblushing  plunder  and  intrusion, 
and  being  supported  by  Federal  power, 
they  have  fastened  themselves  upon  Louisi- 
ana like  parasites  and  mistletoes,  but  the 


—  213  — 

people  long  to  be  governed  by  their  own 
friends  and  neighbors,  with  whom  they 
have  sympathy  and  confidence. 

Near  three  hundred  years  ago  it  was  said, 
as  it  were  for  Louisiana,  to  express  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  her  people,  that  uthe  causes 
and  motives  of  seditions  are  innovations  in 
religion,  taxes,  alteration  of  laws  and  cus- 
toms, breaking  of  privileges,  general  op- 
pression, advancement  of  unworthy  persons, 
strangers,  dearths,  disbanded  soldiers,  fac- 
tions grown  desperate." 

Our  Utopians  demand  that  all  the  good 
and  worthy  people  of  both  races  shall  join 
together  on  one  side,  and  make  war  on  all 
the  dishonest  people  on  the  other  side. 
This  would  be  very  desirable,  but  in  prac- 
tice it  becomes  impossible,  as  some  of  each 
kind  will  always  be  found  on  both  sides. 
'Then,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  whites, 
as  a  class,  possess  more  intelligence,  mor- 
ality and  worth  than  the  negroes,  and  if 
they  can  succeed  in  the  election,  more  of 


—  214  — 

these  qualities  will  be  found  in  the  admin- 
istration of  public  affairs. 

A  timid  and  conciliatory  course  has  been 
pursued  by  the  whites,  which  has  caused  a 
division  among  themselves,  and  brought 
strength  and  union  to  the  African  element. 
This  has  been  chiefly  the  result  of  undue  in- 
fluence and  interference  by  the  United  States 
government,  but  it  is  probable  that  this 
power  will  become  more  impartial  in  the 
near  future,  and  it  is  hardly  possible  that 
the  enlightened  North  can  long  assist  in  the 
degradation  and  oppression  of  the  white 
races  at  the  South,  solely  for  the  prema- 
ture and  unnatural  aggrandizement  of  the 
blacks. 

This  could  only  be  continued  as  a  punish- 
ment for  the  past,  but  the  past  in  the 
South  was  the  result  of  circumstances  over 
which  our  present  white  population  have 
had  but  little  control.  It  is  obvious  now 
that  a  plain  issue  should  be  made,  and  if 
no  relief  can  be  had  by  open  and  energetic 


-215- 

warfare,  politically,  so  that  the  prosperity 
of  the  State  can  be  advanced,  it  cannot 
come  otherwise,  and  the  responsibility  will 
be  shifted. 

Submitting  my  right  to  offer  my  views, 
as  editors  and  other  citizens  do,  I  remain, 
Yonrs  very  respectfully, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


HANDLIN    DIFFERS    WITH    MR.    FOWLER    IN 
AN    OPEN  LETTER. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Jan.  13,  1898. 
HON.  CHARLES  N.  FOWLER, 

Dear  Sir: — Some  weeks  since  I  received 
a  communication  that  you  would  send  me 
your  speech  if  I  wished.  I  replied  that  I 
would  read  it  if  sent.  I  have  to  thank  you 
for  a  copy,  which  I  have  read  pretty  care- 
fully. I  judge  you  are  the  lawyer  for  some 
bank  or  banks.  Portions  of  your  speech 
throw  a  great  deal  of  light  on  the  financial 
question.  But  your  notion  that  the  gov- 


—  216  — 

ernment  ought  to  step  down  and  out,  and 
put  the  money  power  entirely  under  the 
control  of  the  banks, — leaving  the  people 
at  their  mercy  to  speculate,  expand  and  con- 
tract at  will, — seems  to  me  altogether 
wrong. 

Why  it  is  not  possible  for  the  govern- 
ment to  issue  all  the  circulating  medium, 
and  regulate  it  per  capita,  leaving  the  banks 
to  do  a'  strictly  banking  business,  lending, 
discounting,  etc.,  I  cannot  understand. 

The  vexed  question  of  a  single  measure 
of  values  is  well  handled  by  you.  But  why 
not  demonetize  both  gold  and  silver?  Since 
the  discussion  of  1877  I  have  been  a  firm 
believer  in  greenbacks.  In  1893,  when  I 
traveled,  by  the  advice  of  a  Spaniard  who 
had  lately  been  in  Europe,  I  took  gold. 
But  when  I  got  to  Rome  my  banker  in- 
formed me  that  greenbacks  were  worth  just 
a  little  more  than  gold. 

The  Populists  are  right  on  all  these 
questions.  Just  melt  the  precious  metals 


—  217  — 

into  bars  and  put  them  in  the  vaults  of  the 
Treasury,  leaving  government  paper  for 
money  exclusively,  except  base  coin  for 
small  amounts. 

Your  book  [page  92]  showing  the  diffi- 
culty and  vexation  of  a  double  metal  stan- 
dard, is  conclusive  proof  that  a  stamp  pa- 
per standard  is  the  best.  Bars  of  met- 
al are  as  good  a  foundation  as  coin,  if  any 
other  nation  or  individual  wants  the  bars. 

The  warehouse  business  is  a  good  busi- 
ness. Croesus  was  a  warehouseman.  But 
the  argument  of  iron  being  better  than  gold 
can  hardly  avail  in  our  day.  In  1862  gold 
slunk  away.  If  the  banks  held  it  they 
failed  to  furnish  it  to  the  government. 

The  President's  idea  to  issue  no  green- 
backs except  for  gold  is  good.  Since  1893 
I  have  been  a  convert  to  his  high  tariff 
policy,  however  much  the  contrary  may  be 
good  for  Great  Britain.  Why  not  have  a 
purely  American  system,  both  of  currency 
and  of  tariff? 


—  218  — 

Your  plan  would  put  all  the  money  in  the 
bank,  and  the  citizen   could  never   put  in 
enough, — like   Mark  Twain's  jaybird,  who 
said,  "I  reckon  I've  struck  something." 
Your  Obedient  Servant, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  May  19,  1900. 
GEN.  ADOLPH  MEYER, 

My  Dear  Friend: — I  have  very  careful- 
ly read  your  late  speech ,  and  I  think  you 
are  mistaken.  I  differ  with  you  altogeth- 
er. We  paid  our  money,  $20,000,000,  and 
have  a  perfect  title  to  the  Philippine  Is- 
lands,— the  same  as  we  have  for  Alaska,  for 
which  we  paid  $7,000,000.  It  would  be  the 
same  thing  if  the  aboriginal  inhabitants 
were  to  rise  up  and  defy  the  authority  of  the 
United  States. 

The  President,  therefore,  is  perfectly 
right  in  maintaining  the  war  to  keep  the 
peace  in  all  our  possessions.  In  fact,  by 


—  219  — 

your  admission,  tie  has  been  a  model  Presi- 
dent. He  did  all  he  could  to  prevent  the 
war  with  our  friends,  (con  mestros  amigos^ 
los  Espanoles}  the  Spaniards. 

The  President,  surrounded  by  his  cabinet 
of  statesmen,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  press , 
giving  the  sense  of  the  'country  at  large ? 
was  as  competent  to  keep  the  peace  as  Con- 
gress would  have  been. 

Some  admissions  in  the  speech  seem  fatal 
to  the  conclusions.  "Louisiana,  a  vast 
domain  sold  to  us  by  France."  The  ill 
will,  not  to  say  hatred,  of  the  old  French 
inhabitants  against  American  rule,  is  too 
well  known.  The  ladies  thought  it  a  dis- 
grace to  speak  English.  Within  our  mem- 
ory the  prejudice  still  existed,  as  no  one 
knows,  my  dear  General,  better  than  you, 
who  speak  so  well  la  belle  langue  Fran$aise» 
It  is  all  changed  now.  Our  young  people 
do  not  like  French,  and  those  of  the  mother 
tongue  strive  to  speak  English. 

There  is  nothing  in  a  name.    The  United 


-  220  — 

States,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  is  an 
empire.  What  need  have  we  for  a  vast  na- 
vy, unless  we  intend  to  open  a  field  to  en- 
terprising Americans  and  extend  our  bless- 
ings to  the  rest  of  mankind?  The  situation 
has  changed  since  the  days  of  Washington. 
To  abandon  the  Philippine  Islands  now 
would  be  a  retrograde  movement  in  the  on- 
ward march  of  the  world.  The  civilized  na- 
tions are  in  accord,  and  Africa  is  peaceably 
partitioned,  barring  the  Boer  war.  Great 
Britain  will  run  a  railroad  from  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  to  Egypt. 

When  the  republic  of  Rome  began  to 
weaken,  Caesar  turned  back  the  barbarian 
hordes  for  a  time,  annexing  Gaul  and  Spain 
and  extending  their  exceptional  civilization 
as  far  as  Britain,  the  evidence  of  which 
comes  down  to  us  in  the  beautiful  Latin 
tongues. 

A  greater  power  than  that  of  any  one  na- 
tion is  pressing  forward  the  civilization, 
and,  perchance,  the  Christianization  of  this 


—  221  — 

age;  and  the  time  will  most  probably  come 
soon  when  they  will  be  extended  to  all  the 
cannibal  islands,  and  when  by  the  power  of 
steam,  electricity,  and  artesian  wells,  the 
great  Sahara  desert  will  become  one  vast 

oasis.  Truly, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


A  BILL 

To  Prevent  Lynching,  and  to  Protect  Per- 
sons of  African  Descent  in  Their 
Lives  and  Civil  Rights  : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  Honse  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled, 

That  whenever  a  person  of  African  de- 
scent shall  be  killed  by  a  mob,  or  by  other 
unlawful  and  overpowering  force,  the  coun- 
ty, parish,  district,  or  municipality  in  which 
such  killing  shall  take  place,  shall  be  lia- 
ble to  pay  one  thousand  dollars  to  the  wife, 
parents,  child,  or  friend  of  the  deceased, 
suit  for  which  may  be  instituted  in  the  Uni- 


—  222  — 

ted   States  District  Court  having   jurisdic- 
tion over  such  locality. 

Be  it  further  enacted,  That  this  law  shall 
take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage. 


New  Orleans,  La.,  July  23,  1901. 
WILLIAM  McKiNLEY,  President, 

Dear  Sir: — In  view  of  the  helpless  con- 
dition of  the  negro  race,  who  are  deprived 
of  the  shield  of  the  law,  and  the  presump- 
tion of  innocence,  permit  me  to  suggest  that 
the  enclosed  bill  be  offered  in  the  next  Con- 
gress, by  Senator  Foraker  or  some  other 
member.  Ojala  que  valga! 

Yours  truly, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  July  26,  1901. 
Mr.  W.  W.  Handlin, 

New  Orleans,  La. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I    beg  to    acknowledge 
the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  23rd  inst., 


—  223  — 

with  enclosure,  and  to  say  that  the  contents 
have  been  noted. 

Very  truly  yours, 

O.  L.  PRUDEN, 
Assistant  Secretary  to  the  President. 


—  224  — 


GOOD  ADVICE. — Magister  Dixit. 
If  a  man  ube  not  apt  to  beat  over  matters 
and  to  call  upon  one  thing  to  prove  and   il- 
lustrate another,  let  him  study  the  lawyer's 


cases.' 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 

Picayune  May  igth,  1901. 
MR.  HANDIyIN  IN  THE  JACKSON  TRIAL. 

New  Orleans,  La.,  May  18,  1901. 

Editor  Picayune: — I  take  exception  to 
this  sentence  in  your  editorial,  to- wit:  uMr. 
Handlin,  who  acknowledges  himself  a  fa- 
natical friend  of  the  negroes,"  etc. 

I  do  not  acknowledge  myself  so.  I  know 
of  no  facts  in  my  history  which  prove  this 
allegation.  Indeed,  the  record  is  the  other 
way,  as  you  may  see  in  the  Case  12,  Wal- 
lace, page  173.  My  partiality  naturally  is 
for  my  own,  the  white  race.  I  am  not  par- 
ticularly the  negro's  friend,  unless  he  is  a 
good  negro.  But  I  make  no  difference  in 


—  225  — 

races  or  men,   or  other  animals,  where   jus- 
tice is  concerned. 

Being  a  Southern  man,  I  know  all  about 
the  negro.  But  when  appointed  by  the 
Court  to  defend  the  negroes,  I  meant  to  do 
it.  If  they  had  been  white  I  would  have 
done  the  same.  Your  newspaper  did  not  so 
style  Mr.  Maher,  who  defended  Jim  Mur- 
ray, alias  Greasy  Jim. 

I  beg  of  you  to  do  me  justice  and  with- 
draw the  above  language.  Please  publish 
this.  Yours,  etc., 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 

NOTE. — [The  Picayune  derived  its  opinion  of 
Mr.  Handlings  prejudice  in  favor  of  tjie  negroes 
from  the  radical  sectional  political  expressions 
which  characterized  his  arguments  and  the  con- 
duct of  his  case.  But  an  opinion  must  yield  to 
his  disclaimer,  which  is  duly  accepted  and  given 
to  the  public  above.  The  Picayune  gave  Mr. 
Handlin  credit  for  the  management  of  the  cause 
in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  had  no  idea  of  re- 
flecting on  him  for  performing  the  duties  to  which 
he  had  been  delegated.  The  Picayune  has  ap- 
plauded Judge  Maher  and  other  lawyers  who  have 
ably  defended  negroes,  but  they  did  not  find  it  nec- 
essary to  inject  violent  sectional  politics  into  cases 
where  nothing  of  the  sort  was  warranted.  Mr. 


—  226  — 

Handlin  was  defending  negroes  charged  with  the 
murder  of  policemen  under  conditions  where  no 
political  issues  were  involved,  and  any  introduc- 
tion of  political  questions  should  have  had  no 
place  in  the  case.] 


SECTION  A. 

May  it  please  the  Court, — crooked  ways 
are  bad  ways.  In  all  the  cases  which  were 
dismissed  on  technicalities  by  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  the  case  of  Jim  Mur- 
ry,  alias  Greasy  Jim ,  the  Williams  case 
from  Mississippi,  and  Neal  vs.  Delaware, 
103  U.  S.,  they  were  all  judicial  murders. 
They  were  negroes,  and  entitled  to  mixed 
juries.  Xhe  Supreme  Court  lent  itself  to 
Southern  race  prejudice  so  far  as  to  say, 
uWe  dismiss  the  cases  because  they  are  not 
properly  brought  up.  We  have  nothing  to 
do  with  it.  The  responsibility  is  on  you." 
But  in  Carter  vs.  Texas,  177  U.  S.,  the 
Court  has  said  in  no  mistaken  words,  "You 
shall  give  the  negro  a  legal  trial."  Texas 
is  a  big  State,  but  Uncle  Sam's  arm  has 


—  227  — 

reached  it,  and  it  will  reach  Louisiana  and 
all  the  South. 

Sir,  do  you  believe  the  I3th  and  I4th 
amendments  will  ever  be  repealed?  Nev- 
er! They  will  perpetuate  the  three  a' s  of 
the  immortal  French  revolution:  liber t^ 
•  fraterniti,  kgalite. 

All  through  the  South,  the  judiciary  and 
the  prosecuting  lawyers  have  been  so  un- 
manly, if  not  criminal,  as  to  undertake  to 
evade  the  jury  laws  of  the  United  States, 
which  they  undertook  to  enforce  by  their 
official  oaths.  Lynching  is  infinitely  more 
manly  than  murder  by  the  forms  of  law. 
Have  I  lived  to  see  an  infamous  Court  re- 
fuse to  hear  witnesses,  and  then  try  to  ex- 
cuse his  wicked  decision  by  saying  there 
was  no  evidence?  Is  it  not  about  time  to 
submit  to  the  inevitable  and  to  submit  to  the 
supreme  jury  law  of  the  land? 

It  is  thirty-six  years  since  the  war  is  over 
and  we  find  the  South  in  full  rebellion  in  its 
resistance  to  law.  It  is  similar  to  the  guer- 


—  228  — 

rilla  warfare  of  the  Boers.  But  just  as  sure- 
ly as  they  will  be  put  down  by  Great  Brit- 
ain, so  surely  will  the  South  have  to  sub- 
mit. Why  not  follow  the  example  of  the 
Government  in  the  respectable  mixed  juries 
here  in  its  courts? 

I  submit  that  the  indictments  against  the 
negroes  I  defend  out  of  charity,  found  by  a 
grand  jury  of  exclusive  white  men  in  this 
city,  where  a  third  of  the  people  are  negroes, 
ought  to  be  quashed. 

UJUDGE  BAKER  DENIES  HAND- 
LIN'S  CONTENTIONS. n— Times-Dem- 
ocrat. 

Bill  reserved. 

THE  STATE  VS.  SILAS  JACKSON,  ET  AL. 

The  challenge  and  motion  to  quash  the 
indictment  will  have  to  be  re-submitted  in 
this  case.  I  was  anxious  at  first  to  press 
the  trial,  but  Judge  Mo'ise  said  to  me,  "You 
had  better  not  be  in  a  hurry;  maybe  there 
was  some  race  prejudice."  After  that  I 


—  229  — 

waited,  but  the  matter  was  still  under  ad- 
visement at  the  judge's  death. 

There  is  really  no  case  against  the  ac- 
cused. They  were  all  arrested  because 
they  happened  to  live  in  the  large  tene- 
ment house  where  Robert  Charles  was 
found  in  one  of  the  rooms.  That  there  are 
some  80,000  colored  people  in  New  Orleans 
your  honor  will  take  judicial  notice  of. 
Greenleaf  on  Evidence,  4,  5  and  6. 

The  colored  desperado,  Robert  Charles, 
having  killed  two  policemen,  was  found 
in  a  tenement  building  and  killed, 
after  having  killed  two  more  police- 
men and  a  citizen.  Ten  of  the  in- 
mates, men  and  women,  were  indicted  for 
murder,  and  the  juries  were  objected  to  be- 
cause they  were  all  white. 

The  Louisiana  Constitution,  9,  guaran- 
tees a  trial  by  an  impartial  jury.  The  act 
170  of  1894  requires  the  same  kind  of  a  tri- 
al. The  case  Ex.  Virginia  100  U.  S.,  339, 
shows  that  colored  people  cannot  be  exclu- 


—  230  — 

ded  from  the  jury.  The  evidence  shows 
that  the  grand  and  petit  juries  were  com- 
posed entirely  of  white  men,  and  therefore 
illegal. 

I  think  if  a  matter  of  conscience  to  set  up 
this  defense  in  case  the  prisoners  should  be 
found  guilty,  so  that  they  might  have  some- 
thing to  stand  on  by  appeal  and  writ  of 
error.  Now,  gentlemen,  there  is  great  ani- 
mosity and  race  prejudice  in  this  city.  And 
there  is  a  population  of  near  100,000  col- 
ored citizens  here.  There  are  10,000  col- 
ored voters,  under  the  constitution  of  1879, 
native  American  negro  citizens.  What  are 
we  going  to  do  about  it?  We  cannot  kill 
them  all,  as  the  mob  would  have  done. 
Are  we  to  go  by  prejudice,  or  are  we  to 
follow  the  law?  Clearly,  we  are  to  be  gov- 
erned by  the  law.  Now  the  constitution  and 
the  law  say,  The  accused  shall  have  an 
impartial  jury]  not  a  jury  belonging  to 
any  class;  not  a  jury  belonging  to  any  so- 
ciety of  the  400;  not  a  lily  white  jury; 


—  232  — 

people  are  being  tried  for  their  lives. 

And  who  is  responsible  for  this  state  of 
things  in  the  administration  of  criminal 
justice, — excluding  a  class  of  voters  from 
the  jury?  "It  is  not  the  constitution;  it 
is  not  the  law  of  1894;  because  they  say 
that  all  the  people  shall  be  entitled  to  an 
impartial  jury.  The  fault  lies  at  the  door 
of  the  jury  commissioners.  Who 'author- 
ized them  to  impose  jury  duty  on  one 
class  of  voters,  and  to  exclude  a  whole 
class  of  other  voters?  Neither  the  law  nor 
their  oath  gave  them  any  such  authority, 
but  their  duty  enjoined  upon  them  the 
contrary.  By  this  illegal  and  exclusive 
exercise  of  their  office  they  have  engen- 
dered and  exalted  race  prejudice  and  ill 
blood  in  the  community. 

The  practice  in  the  United  States  Court 
at  the  Customhouse  is  different.  The  of- 
ficers there  respect  the  law.  When  I  was 
there  last  and  tried  a  case,  a  few  colored 
citizens  and  voters  were  on  the  jury.  Why 


—  233  — 

this  anomaly  of  a  different  and  an  illegal 
practice  in  the  State  Court  in  the  same 
community  ? 

It  will  be  a  sorry  day  when  the  com- 
mon people  are  excluded  from  the  jury 
box.  That  splendid  statesman  and  mag- 
nificent orator,  W.  J.  Bryan,  has  said 
over  and  over  again,  that  the  common 
people  are  the  " pillar  of  the  State."  The 
jury  is  a  democratic  institution.  When- 
ever the  institution  of  the  jury  is  turned 
into  a  class  concern,  or  an  institution  of 
the  aristocracy,  it  will  be  an  engine  of 
tyranny  and  oppression.  The  panegyric 
of  Sir  William  Blackstone  that  the  jury 
is  the  palladium  of  liberty,  will  be  no 
longer  applicable. 

During  the  unfortunate  period  of  recon- 
struction, negro  juries  were  very  objection- 
able. The  cause  of  that  was  the  large  ne- 
gro registration.  Now  ft  is  different.  It 
has  adjusted  itself.  There  is  a  large  reg- 
istration of  white  voters.  But  the  jury  in 


—  234  — 

the  United  States  Court  is  still  composed 
in  part  of  colored  jurors. 

When  a  rich  man  enters  the  court  room 
he  must  lay  aside  his  pride.  It  is  a  sa- 
cred place.  It  is  the  temple  of  justice.  He 
should  be  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Christian 
humility,  and  respect  the  rights  of  the 
humblest  human  being  within  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Court.  He  should  remember 
the  Golden  Rule,  to  do  unto  others  as  he 
would  be  done  by.  In  matters  of  life  and 
death  all  men  are  equal. 

I  ask  the  Court  to  quash  the  indictment. 

MOTION  OVERRULED. 

Bill  reserved. 


—  235  — 

ROBERT  CHARLES, 

DEFENSE   OF  THE  JACKSONS. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Jury: — Silas,  Martha, 
and  Charles  Jackson  are  charged,  with  sev- 
en other  negroes,  in  one  indictment  with 
the  murder  of  John  Lally .  I  was  appointed 
by  the  judge  to  defend  them.  Somehow  or 
other,  I  have  a  habit  of  getting  on  the  wrong 
side.  It  may  be  that  I  am  inclined  to  the 
side  of  the  weak  against  the  strong;  or  it 
may  be  because  I  do  not  look  at  things 
like  other  people.  When  I  form  an  esti- 
mate of  a  man,  I  do  not  look  at  his  race 
or  his  nationality,  if  he  is  a  reliable  man 
and  a  man  of  principle. 

I  am  only  half  an  American  at  best.  In 
the  late  war  with  Spain,  I  did  not  believe 
that  one  American  could  conquer  six  Span- 
iards, and  at  San  Juan  Hill  the  Span- 
iards showed  that  they  could  fight.  In  our 
civil  war,  they  said  that  one  Southern  man 


—  236  — 

could  whip  five  yankees,  but  the  five  yan- 
kees  tired  out  the  one  Southern  man  and 
put  him  under  the  negro. 

I  have  made  twenty  or  thirty  sea  voy- 
ages, and  I  consider  myself  an  old  sailor.  I 
have  been  in  Berlin,  Vienna,  (they  call  it 
Veen)  Naples,  Paris,  London.  Now,  this 
may  be  why  I  get  on  the  wrong  side.  I 
have  had  great  admiration  for  heroes, — 
Rob  Roy,  Roderick  Dhu,  and  others.  The 
Cid  was  a  hero  of  the  brain.  Amadis  de 
Gaul  was  a  hero  of  the  brain. 

My  old  friend,  Major  Wharton,  at  one 
time  editor  of  the  Picayune,  published  a 
small  paper  and  I  sometimes  furnished  him 
with  articles.  I  had  been  informed  of  some 
treachery  by  Americans  against  a  chief,  and 
I  wrote  an  article  laudatory  of  Sitting  Bull 
for  his  victory  over  Custer.  I  handed  in 
my  article,  but  the  Major  said,  uOh,  no;  I 
cannot  put  anything  of  that  sort  in  my  pa- 
per. I  believe  in  going  for  the  Indians." 
Now,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I  will  call 


—  237  — 

your  attention  to  Robert  Charles,  who  did 
kill  Lally, — though  the  State  carefully 
avoided  proving  that  he  was  there,  and  it 
was  left  for  me  to  show  the  fact,  and  that 
he  was  surrounded,  besieged,  and  slain 
along  with  his  enemies,  and  the  house 
burnt  down  over  his  head. 

Do  you  consider  Robert  Charles  a  hero? 
He  lived  and  died  a  free  man.  The  man- 
acles were  never  placed  upon  his  wrists. 
He  died,  like  Cataline,  fighting  for  sweet 
liberty.  He  was  a  brave  man. 

Let  us  imagine  that  Robert  Charles  is 
alive,  and  that  I  am  defending  him  before 
you  for  this  murder.  At  most  he  could 
only  be  convicted  of  manslaughter.  Why? 
Because  the  killing  was  done  in  hot  blood 
in  a  riot. 

In  the  riots  in  Philadelphia  between  the 
Irish  in  1844,  which  I  remember,  it  was 
held  that  those  homicides  only  amounted 
to  manslaughter. 

In  the  case  of  Robert  Charles    we   must 


—  238  — 

look  at  it  from  his  standpoint.  He  thought 
that  he  was  defending  his  life,  his  home, 
and  his  liberty  against  wrong,  oppression, 
and  persecution.  Like  Samson,  he  said, 
"Let  me  die  with  the  Philistines."  If 
Charles  had  been  a  white  man,  the  hood- 
lums of  New  Orleans  would  have  deified 
him  to  the  skies. 

Let  us  come  now  to  these  negroes,  who 
are  here  on  trial  for  the  murder  of  John 
Lally,  who  was  slain  in  that  riot  by  Rob- 
ert Charles.  No  case  is  made  out  against 
the  prisoners.  It  is  evident  that  they  have 
been  kept  in  jail  nearly  a  year  to  satisfy  the 
longing  for  revenge  against  the  negroes. 
There  is  cause  for  race  prejudice.  Those 
riots  were  fearful.  In  the  beginning,  Rob- 
ert Charles  and  another  negro  were  sitting 
on  a  step  at  night.  They  were  approached 
by  the  police  and  ordered  to  move  on.  Words 
were  exchanged,  and  shooting  followed.  I 
blame  neither  the  police  nor  the  negroes. 
Perhaps  with  prudence  and  good  manage- 


—  239  — 

rnent  the  riots  might  have  been  avoided. 
Four  officers  and  several  white  men  were 
laid  low,  and  widows  and  orphans  were 
made.  I  see  the  widow  of  poor  Lally,  with 
her  orphan  children  and  her  weeds,  in  this 
court  room. 

But  what  under  heaven,  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  has  all  this  to  do  with  the  case  before 
you.  Could  these  defendants  stop  the  ri- 
ots, or  are  they  responsible? 

Quis  Epaminondam  musicam  docuit  ? 
The  attorneys  for  the  State  are  playing  up- 
on a  harp  of  a  thousand  strings.  They  say 
Silas  was  present  at  the  shooting  of  Lally 
and  Porteous.  But  he  was  unarmed,  and 
was  actually  in  charge  of  those  two  officers 
when  they  were  shot  down  by  Charles  from 
his  closet.  Silas  was  the  only  witness  to 
that  shooting,  and  you  must  take  his  evi- 
dence that  it  was  not  done  by  him,  but  by 
another. 

Again,  the  State  urges  that  Silas  had  a 
rifle.  It  is  the  privilege  of  every  Ameri- 


—  240  — 

can  to  bear  arms  and  military  accoutre- 
ments. But  his  gun  was  loaded  when 
found.  Then,  they  say  that  Silas'  actions 
were  suspicious,  and  they  want  to  convict 
him  on  suspicions.  Lord  Bacon  says, 
4 '  Suspicions  among  thoughts  are  like  bats 
among  birds, — they  ever  fly  by  twilight." 

My  father  used  to  relate  a  fable  of  Dr. 
Franklin:  uAn  eagle  was  sailing  in  the 
blue  ether.  He  made  a  swoop  on  what  he 
supposed  to  be  a  young  rabbit,  which  he 
seized,  and  flew  away.  Pretty  soon,  he  dis- 
covered that  it  was  a  young  cat,  which  was 
tearing  his  vitals,  and  he  wished  to  let  it 
drop;  but  the  cat  held  on,  and  forced  him 
to  return  it  whence  it  was  taken." 

So,  with  Robert  Charles.  The  police 
supposed  he  was  a  rabbit,  but  they  found 
him  to  be  a  lion,  fearless  of  death. 

Since  the  war,  the  negroes  have  been  in- 
vested with  civil  rights.  Do  you  believe  the 
fourteenth  amendment  will  ever  be  re- 
scinded? Never !  The  three  a's  of  the 


—  241  — 

French  revolution  have  come  to  stay,  towit: 
kgalitk,  fraternit^  liberal 

The  negroes  are  not  snch  a  bad  people. 
There  are  thieves  among  them,  but  there 
are  many  good  negroes  who  are  industrious 
and  sober.  You  seldom  see  a  negro  drunk, 
and  it  is  notorious  that  Americans  are  the 
greatest  drunkards  in  the  world. 

Our  hoodlums  may  take  lessons  from  the 
negro.  Indeed,  they  may  learn  from  the 
brutes.  The  horse  does  not  get  drunk.  He 
is  too  much  of  a  gentleman.  The  dog  does 
not  get  drunk.  I  have  heard  of  a  parrot 
getting  drunk,  but  I  never  saw  it.  Look  at 
the  nasty,  stinking,  dirty,  drunken,  drink- 
shops  all  over  this  city, — at  every  corner 
grocery  !  They  need  Mrs.  Carrie  Nation 
down  here  to  clear  them  out,  and  pitch  them 
into  the  Mississippi  River,  dilute  them  with 
water,  and  send  them  to  the  gulf  of  destruc- 
tion, where  they  belong. 

Since  the  abuses  of  reconstruction,  the 
negro  has  quit  politics,  and  gone  to  making 


—  242  — 

money  by  his  labor.  Give  him  a  fair  chance. 
Perhaps  you  do  not  know  of  the  canses  that 
led  to  negro  domination.  I  will  tell  you. 

After  the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  the 
good,  Andrew  Johnson  became  President. 
The  Confederates  returned  in  force  to  this 
city,  Monroe  was  elected  mayor,  the  re- 
turned Confederate  soldiers  were  put  on  the 
police  force,  the  embryo  governments — city 
and  State,  set  up  by  the  United  States — 
were  not  respected,  and  I  saw  a  charge  by 
that  police,  with  their  revolvers,  across  Ca- 
nal street,  into  the  Mechanic's  Institute, — 
now  Tulane  Hall, — wrhere  they  massacred 
seventy-five  negroes. 

Thaddeus  Stevens,  in  Congress,  moved 
the  previous  question  until  every  recon- 
struction law  was  passed.  There  was  some 
cause  and  some  provocation  for  reconstruc- 
tion laws. 

The  constitution  makes  you  the  judges  of 
the  law  as  well  as  the  facts.  I  remember 
once  reading  Fenelon's  Telemachus,  trans- 


—  243  — 

lated  into  Spanish,  and  I  came  across  this 
sentence:  Por  bueno  y  sabio  que  un  rey  sea, 
aun  es  hombre.  However  good  and  wise  a 
king  may  be,  still  he  is  a  man.  So  with 
the  judge  ;  and  in  case  he  should  err  in  his 
charge,  you  are  the  judges.  I  apprehend 
no  danger  of  this,  and  I  need  not  to  have 
mentioned  it,  because  I  think  you  will  agree 
with  the  judge  as  to  the  law. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  State  has  not 
proved  the  prisoners  guilty.  I  ask  you,  as 
white  men,  to  divest  yourselves  of  all  pre- 
judice, to  grant  a  general  jail  delivery, 
and  to  acquit  them. 

NOT  GUILTY. 


—  244  — 
UNJUST    REMOVAL. 

In  1864,  when  the  war  was  not  flagrant 
(12  Wall.,  173)  in  New  Orleans,  and  when 
order  and  civil  government  had  been  estab- 
lished for  two  years, — as  shown  by  the 
case  of  the  Planters'  Bank  in  16  Wallace, 
494, — the  removal  of  Judge  Handlin,  by 
military  order  from  the  bench  of  the  Third 
District  Court,  was  most  unjust. 

The  civil  code  which  he  was  sworn  to 
support  was  not  abrogated.  A  slave  had 
no  standing  in  Court;  the  Judge  was  pow- 
erless, and  all  he  could  do  was  to  dismiss 
the  case, — the  reasons  given  by  him  being 
unanswerable.  But  the  manner  of  the  re- 
moval was  even  more  outrageous  and  rep- 
rehensible. Not  a  shadow  of  investigation 
was  had,  and  no  notice  was  given;  but 
when  the  Judge  arose  next  morning,  he 
read  the  order  of  removal  in  the  newspa- 
pers. Truly,  strange  things  were  done  in 
those  excitable  times. —  [Press. 


—  245  — 

SALARY  CASE. 

A    CLAIM. 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.,  Feb  27,  1899. 

To  the   Honorable,    the   Chairman    of   the 
Committee  of  the  Senate  on  Claims. 

Sir: — In  years  past,  a  bill  for  my  re- 
lief by  the  payment  t)f  $20,000,  was  intro- 
duced every  Congress,  and  the  committee 
invariably  made  the  same  stereotyped  re- 
port, relying  on  12  Wallace  173,  a  case 
which  is  objected  to, — first,  becanse  an  er- 
roneous premise  was  assumed  to  show  that 
the  military  order  was  valid  or  necessary  in 
New  Orleans  in  1864  in  a  civil  case,  be- 
cause the  "war  was  yet  flagrant ;"  and,  sec- 
ondly, because  that  case,  though  res  judi- 
cata  as  to  Louisiana,  is  not  res  judicata 
between  me  and  the  United  States. 

I  became  so  dissatisfied, — not  to  use  a 
stronger  word, — with  the  unsatisfactory  re- 
ports, that  I  desisted  from  further  efforts, 


—  246  — 

hoping  that  as  we  recede    from  the   period 
of  the  civil  war,  and  as  prejudice,  in  a  mat- 
ter in  which   the  institution  of  slavery  was 
directly  involved,  becomes  less  and  less  po- 
tent,   there  might  be  a  disposition  on    the 
part  of  Congressmen  to  do  justice  fairly  and 
completely    by  relying   on  other   and  more 
satisfactory  citations  of  authorities  besides 
the  case  in  12  Wallace  173,    which  I   will 
endeavor  to  show,  furnishes,    as  far  as    it 
goes,    on  its  face,    strong  facts  and   reasons 
in  favor  of  my  claim.     It  occurred    to   me, 
therefore,     if    Senator  McEnery    would  ac- 
cept, and  should   be    authorized   during  va- 
cation to  examine,   review,  and  report  up- 
on   the   whole   case,    as    arbitrator   on    my 
part,    that    it    would   be    preferable   to    the 
expense    of     a   new    bill.       Should    he    de- 
cline,    then    I    will     ask    you     to     do    me 
that    favor     in    so   far     as    to   advise    me 
whether     or   not     to    have     a    bill     intro- 
duced    regularly     at     the     next     session. 
Senator    McEnery    is    a   Louisiana    judge, 


—  247  — 

and  should  his  decision  be  adverse,  af- 
ter going  over  all  the  ground,  it  would 
doubtless  bring  conviction  that  the  claim 
ought  not  to  be  allowed.  But,  should 
he  refuse,  then,  as  above,  I  request  you 
to  make  such  examination  instead  of  him. 
Therefore,  I  shall  state  what  I  conceive 
to  be  the  merits  of  the  case. 

The  assumption  in  12  Wallace  173  that 
the  military  order  was  valid  or  necessa- 
ry in  New  Orleans  in  1864  is  erroneous 
and  contrary  to  the  proof  in  the  tran- 
script by  the  admitted  statement  of  facts. 
Therefore,  the  assumption  by  the  court 
that  uthe  war  was  yet  flagrant,"  is  not 
true  and  not  applicable  as  a  reason  to 
justify  the  military  order  in  a  civil  mat- 
ter in  New  Orleans  at  that  time,  and 
said  order  is  a  nullity. 

The  transcript  shows  that  the  war  then 
was  far  removed  from  New  Orleans,  and 
was  not  flagrant,  and  that  peace  and 
quiet  in  civil  government  prevailed  the 


/   •  —  248  — 

£ame  as  in  New  York.  Therefore,  the 
only  ground  in  support  of  the  military 
order,  necessity,  not  being  in  existence,  the 
same  is  an  absolute  nullity. 

Mr.  Phillips,  one  of  the  counsel  in  the 
case  of  the  Union  Bank,  16  Wall.,  494, 
was  present,  and  heard  my  argument  in 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  thought  I  was 
right  when  I  made  the  point  of  peace 
and  quiet  in  New  Orleans.  He  came  to 
me  and  congratulated  me.  His  case  was 
pending  and  he  went  to  work  and  con- 
vinced the  court  by  overmuch  insistence 
on  flagrante  hello,  in  the  Bank  case,  in 
the  fourth  book  after  the  12  Wallace  of 
the  peaceable  state  of  affairs  in  New 
Orleans  in  1863,  and  the  court  re- 
versed its  ruling  and  held  the  military 

• 

order  in  a  civil  matter  to  be  null  and  void, 
and  therefore,  that  the  war  was  not  fla- 
grant quo  ad  that  case. 

The  military  order  in  my  case  was  one 
year  later,  when  order  was  still  more  re- 


—  249  — 

stored,  and,  a  fortiori,  it  was  void. 

There  can  be  no  reason  why  the  order 
in  the  earlier  case  of  1863  should  be  null 
and  void,  and  the  one  of  1864  valid.  They 
were  both  equally  void,  because  there  was 
no  military  necessity  in  either  case. 

The  second  reason  why  the  case  in  12 
Wallace  cannot  be  pleaded  in  bar  of  my 
claim,  is  that  it  is  not  res  judicata.  The 
case  in  12  Wallace  was  brought  against 
the  State  of  Louisiana.  This  is  a  claim 
against  the  United  States.  They  are  not 
between  the  same  parties.  Nothing  in  the 
case  against  the  State  can  be  set  up  in 
favor  of  a  new  party.  Undoubtedly,  the 
finding  of  the  court  is  correct  in  favor  of 
the  State, — whether  the  military  order  was 
null  or  not, — because  the  court  stands  upon 
the  fact  that  the  military  had  the  power, 
and  the  State  was  under  duress. 

But  how  can  this  fact,  power,  relieve 
the  United  States  from  its  liability  for  the 
wrong  and  injury  done?  Therefore,  the 


—  250  — 

case  in  12  Wallace  is  not  res  judicata, 
and  cannot  be  urged  in  favor  of  the  United 
States  in  its  unlawful  use  of  military  pow- 
er; and  it  makes  in  this  point,  as  well  as 
others,  in  favor  of  claimant. 

The  statement  of  the  court, — though 
scant  from  the  proofs  contained  in  the 
transcript, — undoubtedly  shows  that  I  was 
right  in  my  decision,  for  which  I  was 
removed  by  an  unlawful  military  order 
of  the  United  States. 

The  court  states  that  President  Lincoln 
had  exempted  New  Orleans,  where  the 
Third  District  State  Court  was  held,  from 
his  proclamation  of  emancipation  of  the 
slaves.  Therefore,  when,  under  this  pro- 
clamation, a  slave  filed  a  suit  in  the 
court,  I  was  compelled,  under  my  oath 
of  office,  and  under  the  unrepealed  arti- 
cles of  the  civil  code,  to  maintain  the 
exception  and  dismiss  the  suit.  There 
was  no  option, — no  escape  from  the  per- 


-  251  — 

formance   of   duty.     As  judge,  I  was  pow- 
erless to  decide  otherwise. 

Christian  Roselius  told  me,  after  his 
return  from  New  York  by  sea  in  1864, 
that  he  was  invited  by  lawyers  to  a 
public  dinner  there,  and  that  while  at 
dinner  some  one  asked  him  about  Hand- 
lin's  removal.  He  said  he  answered  that 
Handlin  was  a  good  sort  of  a  man, 
sometimes  right  and  sometimes  wrong, 
but  that  in  this  case  he  was  so  clearly 
right  that  "  nobody  but  a  fool  or  a  knave 
could  have  doubted  it."  And  he  said 
he  looked  down  the  table  and  saw  Gen- 
eral Banks  (who  had  provoked  the  re- 
moval) sitting  at  the  table. 

The  Third  District  Court  had  no  crim- 
inal or  military  jurisdiction.  Only  civil 
cases  were  tried  there.  I  had  sat  for  the 
whole  business  year,  and  decided  between 
five  hundred  and  one  thousand  cases.  It 
was  a  State  court,  governed  entirely  by 
State  law.  It  had  no  jurisdiction  in 


—  252  — 

military  matters,  but  concurrent  juris- 
diction with  other  district  courts,  then 
in  operation. 

When  I  accepted  the  office,  there  was 
an  implied ,  contractual  understanding 
that  I  was  to  do  my  duty,  and  was  not 
to  be  abused,  while  strictly  performing 
it,  by  the  military  authority,  the  United 
States,  or  any  one  else.  The  contrary 
doctrine  cannot  be  law.  On  the  contra- 
ry, the  civil  authority  is  superior  to  the 
military  authority.  Therefore,  it  is  obiter 
in  the  decision  that  the  same  power 
which  appoints  can  remove. 

A  private  soldier,  by  military  law, 
cannot  be  wrongfully  abused,  but  he  can 
only  be  dealt  with,  or  discharged  for 
fault  found  after  proceeding  according  to 
military  rules.  How,  then,  can  such  un- 
civilized and  monstrous  doctrine  be  main- 
tained that  such  an  office  as  civil  judge 
in  a  State  court  is  only  there  at  the 


-  253  — 

mercy   and   pleasure   of   the   wrong    doer? 
A  strange  sort  of  civil  service,  indeed! 

The  language  of  the  court,  " subject 
to  revocation,"  is  contrary  to  the  proof 
in  the  transcript.  It  was  not  a  case  of 
revocation.  The  order  purports  to  be  a  " re- 
moval," alleging  false  reasons,  as  shown 
by  the  transcript. 

Another  objection  to  the  language  of 
the  court  in  the  decision  is  that  it  states 
that  the  commanding  general,  whether 
right  or  wrong,  has  frill  power  to  ter- 
minate the  career  of  a  government's  em- 
ployee, who  is  performing  his  whole  du- 
ty. On  the  contrary,  it  is  here  asserted 
that  neither  the  commanding  general  nor 
the  President  has  power  to  trample  upon 
the  rights  of  a  common  soldier,  much 
less  upon  the  rights  of  a  righteous 
judge.  The  court  held  that  there  is  a 
wrong  without  a  remedy.  No  such  scan- 
dalous doctrine  was  contended  for,  even 


—  254  — 

in   the   Dreyfous  case.      There,    at    least, 
there  was  a  show  of  a  hearing. 

The  proof  in  the  transcript  shows  (12* 
Wallace  173)  many  other  facts,  not  men- 
tioned by  the  Court,  upon  which  I  rely  to 
support  the  claim  both  in  law  and  equity. 
As  for  law,  military  and  civil,  I  refer  to  all 
the  authorities  heretofore  cited  in  the  case 
and  before  the  committees. 

But  as  to  the  facts.  The  other  district 
judges  resigned  on  account  of  the  outrage 
against  me.  Their  resignations  were  not 
accepted  and  they  all  held  on  for  four  years, 
and  each  drew  $20,000.  It  is  clear  that  I 
would  have  drawn  the  same  amount,  but  for 
the  wrongful  military  order.  The  act  of 
the  United  States  prevented  me  from  re- 
ceiving that  sum  by  an  unlawful,  null  and 
void,  military  order. 

The  proof  in  the  transcript  shows  that  it 
was  a  State  court,  the  term  or  tenure  of 
which  office  was  fixed  by  statute  at  a  period 
of  four  years  with  a  salary  of  $5000.00  per 
annum. 


—  256  — 

Most  men  of  dignity  of  character  and  re- 
fined principles  prefer  personal  protection 
against  indignity  and  wrong  rather  than 
protection  to  property.  "  Who  steals  my 
purse  steals  trash.  But  he  who  filches  from 
me  my  reputation  takes  that  which  doth  not 
enrich  him,  but  makes  me  poor  indeed." 

I  did  not  seek  the  office.  Suitable  men 
to  fill  it  were  scarce.  Gov.  Geo.  F.  Shepley 
sent  for  me,  called  me  "Judge",  and  pressed 
me  to  take  it.  It  was  considered  and  ac- 
cepted as  a  permanent  position  during  the 
war  or  the  power  of  the  United  States,  or  at 
least  while  the  functions  of  the  office  were 
properly  filled  and  discharged. 

I  shall  ask  you  to  direct  your,  clerk  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  this  communica- 
tion and  claim,  and  to  do  me  the  honor  to 
inform  me  what  disposition  will  be  made  of 
the  matter.  Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  W.  HANDLIN, 
1519  Clio  st.,  New  Orleans,  La. 


-  257  — 

New  Orleans,  La.,  March  6,  1901. 
Secretary  of  the  Senate: 

Sir — What,  if  anything,  was  done  or  said 
by  Caffery  or  McEnery  as  to  the  appeal  and 
protest  lodged  with  you  ?  They  are  now  re- 
ferred to  Roosevelt,  as  well  as  my  present 
charity  " nigger  case"  and  "bull's  pizzle." 

W.  W.  HANDLIN. 


Sagt  Schiller  in  Don  Carlos:  u  Der 
Ritter  Pflicht  ist,  die  D amen  zu  beschiitzen" 
Kbnnen  die  Damen  so  viel  sagen  ? 


—  258  — 
MERCURY. 

American  Politics;  —  a  moral  and  political 
work,  treating  the  causes  of  the  Civil 
War,  by  W.  W.  Handlin. 

The  above  is  a  remarkably  well  written 
and  temperate  work,  which  has  found  its 
way  North  just  in  time  to  be  histoiy,  and 
to  disclose  proposals  for  settling  matters  of 
moment  to  the  Union  at  the  time  —  1864  — 
which  fate  and  the  sword  have  now  finally 
disposed  of.  —  Quebec  Mercury,  Feb.  28, 
1866. 


LIFE. 

William  W.  Handlin  was  born  January 
23,  1830,  in  Livingston  county,  Kentucky. 
His  father,  Joseph  T.  Handlin,  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  emigrated  to  Kentucky 
when  quite  young,  married,  and  raised  a 
family  of  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  oldest.  Isaac 
T.  Handlin,  the  younger  brother,  was  a 
lawyer  and  afterwards  probate  judge  of  his 


—  259  — 

native  county.  He  died  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
two  years.  The  mother  of  these  children, 
Catherine  Trimble,  was  born  in  South 
Carolina,  and  was  descended  maternally 
from  the  Pickens  family  of  revolutionary 
fame.  Her  father  was  a  pioneer  of  the  State 
of  Kentucky  and  opened  a  farm  in  the 
wilderness  of  Livingston  county  in  1805. 
Upon  this  extensive  estate,  comprising  700 
acres,  which  afterwards  became  the  property 
of  his  parents,  W.  W.  Handlin  passed  his 
first  years  up  to  early  manhood,  in  the 
country  schools,  farming,  acting  as  deputy 
sherriff  and  other  occupations.  Being  a 
great  reader  of  history,  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  preparing  for  a  profession,  studied 
Latin  and  the  mathematics  at  Cumberland 
College  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the 
age  of  twenty -one.  Immediately  afterwards, 
he  made  the  journey  in  the  winter  on  horse- 
back over  the  Cumberland  mountains,  up 
the  French  Broad  river,  and  through  the 
States  of  Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  South 


—  260  — 

Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama.  Return- 
ing to  Kentucky,  he  determined  to  emigrate 
to  the  State  of  Texas,  and  he  opened  a  law 
office  in  Brownsville  on  the  Rio  Grande  in 
1852,  where  he  volunteered  for  the  defense 
in  a  slander  suit  and  made  his  first  speech 
before  a  jury  as  a  colleague  of  Rice  Garland, 
formerly  of  the  Supreme  Bench  of  Louisiana, 
but  who,  for  reasons  not  necessary  to  men- 
tion found  himself  practicing  law  in 
Brownsville. 

Becoming  dissatisfied  in  a  year  or  two 
with  Texas  life  and  taking  a  fancy  to  the 
Spanish  language,  he  went  to  the  City  of 
Mexico  with  the  intention  of  perfecting 
himself  in  that  language  and  practicing  law 
in  the  City  of  Mexico.  Having  provided 
himself  with  a  letter  of  recommendation 
from  Lieutenant  Governor  Thompson  before 
leaving  Kentucky,  he  was  enabled  to  obtain 
at  Vera  Cruz  an  introductory  letter  from  the 
U.  S.  Consul  there,  Mr.  Picket,  to  Mr. 
Black,  the  Consul  at  the  City  of  Mexico, 


-  261  — 

by  whose  favor  he  was  presented  as  a  law 
student  in  the  office  of  the  Licenciado,  Don 
Ignacio  de  Jauregui.  Here,  he  studied  the 
Spanish  codes,  and  supported  himself  as 
professor  of  English,  giving  lessons  in  the 
College  of  Mineria  and  other  institutions. 
He  took  a  course  of  one  year  in  a  college 
and  graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class  in 
the  Castillian  grammar. 

At  the  end  of  two  years,  being  informed 
that  he  would  still  require  six  months  study 
to  be  received  as  a  lawyer  in  the  City  of 
Mexico,  and  meeting  some  roving  American 
miners,  he  was  persuaded  to  travel  across 
the  country  to  Acapulco  and  take  passage 
to  California  with  the  view  of  following  his 
profession  there.  During  his  stay  in  Mex- 
ico, he  was  intimate  with  General  Gadsden, 
the  American  Minister,  though  his  inter- 
course was  almost  wholly  confined  to  the 
Mexicans,  whom  he  found  to  be  hospitable, 
refined  and  cultivated. 

In  that  city  he  learned  French  and  he 
was  enabled  through  the  family  of  Mr. 
Jauregui  to  form  many  pleasant  acquain- 
tances, among  whom  was  that  of  the  poet, 
Juan  Diaz  de  Corvarrubias. 


—  262  — 

Arriving  in  California,  he  undertook  the 
practice  of  the  law,  found  the  profession 
crowded,  became  sick,  with  his  means  ex- 
hausted. Scarcely  a  year  passed,  when  the 
exaggerated  reports  of  the  Americanization 
of  Nicaragua  induced  him  to  accept  the  offer 
of  Edward  Quewen,  an  ex-attorne}^  general 
of  California,  to  form  a  law  partnership  in 
Nicaragua,  and  arriving  in  that  country  he 
was  duly  presented  in  the  city  of  Granada 
to  President  Walker,  and  they  immediately 
published  their  law  card.  In.  a  few  weeks, 
however,  the  city  was  besieged,  and  Handliii 
did  good  service  in  the  common  defense, 
until  General  Henningsen  was  relieved  by 
a  night  attack  from  lake  Nicaragua  by 
newly  arrived  forces  from  Texas  and  Cali- 
fornia, led  by  Cherokee  Sam,  among  whose 
followers  was  John  Purvez  of  New  Orleans. 

Being  unexpectedly  freed  from  that  scene 
of  suffering,  in  which  one  half  perished,  and 
the  remainder,  say  150,  for  twenty-one  days 
were  reduced  to  one  spare  meal  of  horse 
'  flesh  daily , he  obtained,  after  some  difficulty, 
having  remained  altogether  six  months  in 
the  country,  permission  to  go  via  Panama 


—  263  — 

to  New  Orleans,  where  lie  arrived  almost 
without  clothes  on  the  27th  of  March,  1857. 
He  determined  then  to  make  New  Orleans 
his  home,  having  become  thoroughly  satis- 
!  fied  with  an  adventurous  life. 

After  some  months'  study  in  the  office  of 
A.  P.  Field,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  law 
in  Louisiana,  and  from  his  knowledge  of 
the  languages  he  was  enabled  to  form  a 
partnership  with  Major  Henry  St.  Paul,  at 
that  time  a  State  Senator.  Being  a  good 
democrat,  he  obtained  through  his  generous 
friend,  St.  Paul,  an  appointment  from  Gov. 
Wickliffe,  as  special  attorney  of  the  State 
for  the  collection  of  taxes. 

In  the  year  1860,  having  realized  some- 
thing from  his  business,  he  visited  his  old 
home  in  Kentucky,  and  placed  suitable  in- 
scriptions upon  marble  over  the  graves  of 
his  parents  and  his  youngest  sister,  wrho 
had  died  while  being  educated  at  St.  Vin- 
cent's Convent  at  Morganfield.  From  there 
he  made  the  tour  of  the  North  and  Canada, 
commencing  with  the  Mammoth  Cave,  and 
taking  in  all  the  principal  cities,  including 
among  others  Niagara,  Saratoga,  Quebec, 


—  264  — 

Plymouth  Rock,  Marshfield,  Lowell  and  all 
the  principal  places  of  note  and  interest, 
and  returning  home  by  sea.  He  was  a  con- 
siderable traveler  in  America,  having  made 
over  twenty  voj^ages  in  steam  and  sailing 
vessels. 

The  war  coming  on,  he  was  inclined  to 
look  upon  it  as  a  kind  of  insanity,  and  hav- 
ing had  some  experience  was  not  disposed 
to  do  anything  that  would  interfere  with  his 
own  business  in  leading  a  quiet,  professional 
life.  But  notices  to  drill  becoming  frequent, 
he  was  advised  to  obtain  a  commission  as 
captain  of  State  Militia,  which  would  prob- 
ably protect  him  from  any  further  annoy- 
ance, and  it  turned  out  to  be  true.  Retiring 
in  the  country  to  the  residence  of  his  friend, 
H.  M.  Summers,  he  remained  quiet  till  the 
bombardment  of  the  Forts,  and  arrived  on 
the  day  before  Admiral  Farragut  anchored 
in  front  of  New  Orleans. 

Handlin  had  become  accustomed,  from  a 
distance,  to  regard  the  United  States  as  one 
country,  and  he  felt  a  national  pride  to  see 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  float  over  New  Orleans 
again. 


—  265  — 

For  two  years  he  practiced  his  profession 
successfully,  when  he  was  requested  by 
Governor  Shepley  to  accept  a  commission 
as  State  Judge  of  the  Third  District  Court 
of  New  Orleans.  He  performed  the  func- 
tions of  that  office  during  the  whole  business 
year,  deciding  over  five  hundred  causes, 
when,  in  July,  1864,  on  the  argument  of  a 
motion  for  a  new  trial  in  a  suit  of  a  slave, 
which  he  as  judge  had  dismissed  as  having 
no  standing  in  court,  he  was  dismissed  from 
office,  without  notice  or  hearing,  by  an  order 
of  Michael  Hahn,  acting  as  Governor,  who 
falsely  alleged  that  no  reasons  had  been 
given  for  the  judgment,  when  the  reasons 
had  been  given  orally  and  published  to  the 
effect  that  the  code  had  not  been  changed, 
and  that  there  was  not  even  a  military  order 
order  allowing  slaves  to  bring  suits,  while 
President  Lincoln  had  excepted  the  loyal 
district  of  New  Orleans  from  his  proclama- 
tion of  emancipation.  But  the  fanaticism 
of  the  hour  was  such  that  the  judge  could 
not  be  heard,  though  he  had  had  no  inten- 
tion of  doing  anything  which  a  good  patriot 
should  not  do,  and  was  governed  as  judge 
solely  by  his  oath. 


—  266  — 

Later,  Judge  Handlin  instituted  a  proceed- 
ing by  mandamus  for  his  salary,  $20,000.00, 
which  he  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  and  personally  argued 
there  in  1871,  at  which  time  he  was  admit- 
ted to  practice  in  that  tribunal.  The  case 
is  reported  in  12  Wallace  173,  and,  with  the 
transcript,  shows  that  Judge  Handlin  was 
badly  treated,  though  the  relief  demanded 
was  not  granted.  Caleb  dishing  had  en- 
gaged to  argue  the  case,  but  not  finding 
him  at  home  and  being  impatient  of  delay, 
Judge  Handlin  was  over-confident  and  sup- 
posed that  he  would  be  able  to  show  the 
nullity  of  his  dismissal  and  that  the  military 
was  subordinate  to  the  civil  authority. 

But  he  had  not  proceeded  far  in  his  argu- 
ment when  he  saw  Chief  Justice  Chase 
whispering  on  both  sides  to  his  fellows 
( which  was  not  polite)  as  soon  as  he  found 
that  there  was  a  slave  in  the  case  (a  nigger 
in  the  wood  pile),  and  it  proved  to  be  an 
inauspicious  omen.  Gushing  should  have 
made  the  argument.  It  was  not  a  case  of 
what  was  said,  but  who  said  it. 

In  the  summer  of   1864   (when    he  quit 


—  267  — 

smoking  cigarettes),  he  visited  congenial 
friends,  lawyers,  in  Pinar  del  Rio,  Cuba. 

Returning  to  the  bar,  Judge  Handlin  con- 
tinued to  perform  the  quiet  duties  of  his 
profession  and  took  no  part  in  politics.  Al- 
though always  a  democrat,  and  never  voting 
for  a  carpet  bagger,  he  was  never  at  any 
pains  to  disabuse  persons,  who  might  regard 
all  those  as  republicans  who  had  been  form- 
erly dubbed  "union  men' ' .  But  he  thought 
the  free  trade  of  Cleveland  did  not  work  well 
for*  America. 

Of  late  years  he  contributed  towards  the 
advancement  of  Spanish  culture  in  New 
Orleans  and  was  a  director  of  the  Centro 
Espanol.  The  language  of  Cervantes  was 
with  him  a  passion,  and  he  attributed  in 
great  part,  whatever  correctness  he  might 
have  in  English,  to  the  thorough  course  in 
the  Castilliaii  grammar  in  El  Colegio  de 
Comercio,  Mexico. 

In  1893,  he  made  the  tour  of  Europe,  go- 
ing as  far  as  Pompeii,  and  though  only 
three  weeks  in  Italy,  he  learned  Italian,  so 
that  when  he  returned,  he  read  all  the  plays 
of  Metastacio,  the  Italian  Shakespeare.  He 


—  268  — 

spoke  German  considerably,  having  read 
many  German  works  in  the  original,  among 
which  was  Schiller's  chef  (Tceuvre,  Don 
Carlos.  But  German  is  hard. 

•&  x 

In  person  tall,  six  feet  two  inches,  with  a 
large  frame  and  good  constitution.  Eyes 
dark  brown 


CHALLENGE. 

O  that  mine  enemy  would  write  a  book." 


THE  BOOK  IS  WRITTEN. 

il  Many  a  time  and  oft  n  the  devil  put 
himself  in  the  way  of  publishing  this  book, 
but  I  brushed  him  aside,  u  like  the  dew 
drops  from  the  lion's 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

JiUG  1  0  1970  4ft 

KEC'D  LD     JUL  2 

77G-8AM22 

..     <t£\At^ 

MAR  11  1985 

-----, 

r           r    A           -L       rr     -1  f\  f\  f 

FE6  Z  5  1985 

1 

* 

41 

i 

j 

General  Library 

T,T»  9.1  A—  ^n*w..ft  'i^7                                         TTnJvf»r«!ifv  nf  California 

YE  02682 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  -  U.C.  BERKELEY 


